Duo's Pain
by Shinigami-chan
Summary: Finally the end! I hope guys like it. I have the worst case of writter's block ever. Enjoy!
1. Duo's pain ch1

Duo's Pain  
Chapter 1  
  
  
"Just go away!" Heero shouted.  
  
Duo just stared at him for a moment before stuttering, "Wh.. what?"  
  
"You heard me. I am tired of you and your games and jokes. I wish you would just leave me alone. You're even worse than Relena." Heero said coldly.  
  
Duo hadn't heard him talk to him like this they had become lovers. "Do you agree with him?" he asked the other pilots.  
  
"Yes. You never shut up and leave us alone. It's an injustice that you stay here with us any longer." Wufie snapped with a sharp nod.  
  
Trowa simply nodded his head and Quatre tried to explain. "It's just that we can never concentrate on anything that..."  
  
"Fine. If that's the way you want it." Duo interrupted then turned and raced up the stairs to his room, but not before the others saw both the tears and the anger on his face, a face that they had never seen these emotions on before.  
  
As they heard the sound of his door being slammed, Quatre turned to the others. "I've never seen him like this before. He's never cried or gotten angry at us before."  
  
"I know but he can't be allowed to disrupt our lives like that." Trowa said as he pulled his lover down on the couch with him.  
  
"I know but isn't this a little drastic?" Quatre asked.  
  
"NO." Heero and Wufie snapped.  
  
Upstairs, Duo had heard everything the others had said. He has sneaked back to the top of the stairs, just to make sure that that they were joking, and instead heard his lover and his best friends say that he had seemed to ruin their lives.  
  
He quietly went back into his room and shut the door silently. Sitting down on his bed, he looked around. His room was just like he liked it. Black painted walls, black draped windows, black bedspreads, even the dressers and desks were black. Everything was either black or partially black, his own little haven for the God of Death. No one, not even Heero ever came into his room. Duo usually ended up in Heero's room. Everyone knew that this was his place to go to work things out or just to be alone for awhile.  
  
Wiping the tears away, he stood up and started to look for his suitcases in his closet. What he found first though was one of his picture albums. He never had any pictures growing up until he went to stay at the orphanage that Father Maxwell ran. Since then, he took as many pictures as he could.   
  
Sitting on the bed, he started to look through it. Smiling slightly he looked at the pictures he had taken just after the Gundam War, as it was being called now. Heero was holding Trowa's birthday cake as Wufie was trying to keep away from Quatre who was holding a party hat out to him like he was trying to put it on his friends head. And the picture of Trowa and Quatre asleep on the couch cuddled together in front of a fire.  
  
Here, Wufie was doing a kata with Heero, and then came the picture of Heero and Duo himself. This one was of him standing with his arms crossed and Heero had his arms wrapped possessively around him, and another with it switched where he had his arm around a glowering Heero's shoulders. Another one, both of them hugging, Heero wearing a white long sleeve coat with black cuffs and him wearing the same but with the colors switched.  
  
Then there was the picture of them asleep on the back seat of a car, leaning against each other. And then, Duo's favorite picture. Heero was smiling, not his cynical smile but one of pure happiness. He was holding a sleeping Duo on his lap. Quatre had snapped it before Heero had know what was going on.  
  
While remembering all these happy times, he almost missed the faint sound of someone coming up the stairs. He paused for a second, listening, and the person stopped right in front of the door. After a minute, the person moved on and Duo put the picture album aside, still open to the last page he had been looking at.  
  
Going to the dresser, he opened the first drawer and pulled out his gun. He had stopped carrying it after the Marimaia incident, and now at eighteen rarely ever brought it out except to clean it. 'You know, without these guys, I don't have anything. I gave Hilde and the salvage business up a year and a half ago. Last time I saw her, she said that if she ever saw me again, I would wish that I had died during the war.' Duo thought as he sat back down on the bed. He looked at the picture of the smiling Heero then shuddered as he remembered the look on the same face downstairs.  
  
'You know, I wonder if he ever really loved me. With out them I might was well be dead.' With this last thought he raised the gun to his temple and pulled the trigger.  
  
  
  
Down stairs, Trowa, Wufie, and Heero's heads all jerked up at the sound of the gunshot. Quatre had gone up earlier to lay down until Duo left but they knew that the shot hadn't come from him. As one they raced up the stairs and met Quatre as they all converged on Duo's bedroom door.  
"He wouldn't have done anything stupid, would he?" Quatre asked as they all stopped. In answer, Heero grabbed the door handle threw the door wide. As none of them had ever been in his room, everyone was shocked as they looked around. Everything was black, but it seemed that it was perfect for the ex-Deathscyth pilot.  
  
They all spotted the figure that was twitching on the floor at the same time and rushed towards it. They found Duo laying on the carpet, twitching like he was having a bad dream but they knew it was nothing like that. Duo was still clutching the gun in his hand and there was a spreading pool of blood coming from his head.   
  
Quatre dropped to his knees next to him and felt for a pulse. "His pulse is weak but it is still there." he gasped and Trowa rushed to the phone on the bedside table and dialed 911.  
  
"Yes, we need some help. Our friend just shot himself in the head but he is still alive." he quickly rattled off the address and hung up. Within a few minutes, they could all hear the wail of the ambulance sirens approaching the house. Wufie went down to direct them to the room, and within a few minutes, Duo had been strapped to a gurney and wheeled away. Quatre went with the medics and the other guys were going to follow in a car.  
  
"I can't believe he did this." Heero whispered as he sat down on the bed. Looking to the side, he saw the picture book still laying open. Picking it up, his eyes were drawn to the big picture of him smiling down at a sleeping Duo. Around the picture were others of the two of them, and Heero got a sinking feeling in his heart that he was the reason that Duo had tried to kill himself. Oh sure, the rejection from the others had been hard enough, but Heero had also abandon him, told him to go away.  
  
"This isn't like the Duo we know." Trowa agreed as he stood over him.  
Wufie just snorted. "He was weak."  
  
Heero was across the room, pinning Wufie to the wall by his throat, before either Trowa or Wufie realized what was going on. "He is not weak." he growled then released Wufie and stalked out the door.  
Trowa silently helped Wufie up, and then they both followed Heero to the garage.  
  
  
  
  
At the hospital, they found Quatre in the waiting room and hurried over to him. "How is he?" Heero demanded as soon as they got close enough.  
"The doctors said that it was a miracle that he survived. The bullet was putting a lot of pressure on his brain, but because of the way it went in, his skull stopped it mostly. They're removing the bullet now and then they said we could go see him." Quatre said and the others sighed in relief. They sat down to wait for the doctor to come back and he returned a few minutes later.  
  
"Mr. Maxwell is doing fine and is recovery. You can go see him in about ten minutes when we move him into a regular room." The doctor said with a smile, then frowned as he asked, "Would any of you happen to know why he would try to kill himself?"  
  
"We told him he had to leave." Quatre said, guilt apparent in his face and voice.  
  
"Well that's a shame. I've meet him a few time before and he was always a sweet, kind, and gentle young man. Why would you want him to leave?" the doctor asked.  
  
"We could never get anything done so we all decided that it would be better for him to leave." Trowa said quietly.  
  
The doctor didn't say anything for a moment, and then he sighed, turned around and walked away.  
  
They were silent, each thinking about what they had did and why until a nurse came up to they and led them to Duo's room. Duo was laying on the bed with bandages wrapped around his head, totally still. If it wasn't for the heart and brain monitors that were quietly beeping, they would have thought that he was dead.  
  
Heero sat down in the chair next to the bed and gently took the limp hand in his own. "I am so sorry Duo." he said quietly and the others just nodded quietly to themselves.  
  
"We all are." Quatre said softly.  
  
  
  
  
They were finally forced to go home when the doctors came in to try to check on their patient and they couldn't get to him because of the four boys who were underfoot. But they came back the next day and they visited everyday for two months while Duo was in his coma. Then one day they missed coming and that was the day Duo woke up.  
  
Duo opened his eyes to see a white ceiling. "Where am I?" he said, or tried to say, but all that came out was a croak.  
  
"Oh, I see that you're awake. I'll go get the doctor." a nurse that had been tidying the room a little said as she walked out the door.  
  
'What? What doctor? Why would I be in a hospital?' he wondered as he turned his head towards the door. Suddenly, the memories of what had happened came rushing back to him and he closed his eyes in anguish.  
'They told me to leave. I'm nothing without them. Maybe this is for the best. Duo Maxwell will become a new man, without the others.' he thought with growing determination. Just then the doctor and the nurse came in.  
  
"Mr. Maxwell, I'm glad to see that you've finally woke up. Let's take a look at you to be sure that you are alright." the doctor said as he unwrapped the bandage from around his head.  
  
"When can I get out of here?" Duo croaked and the doctor gave him a long look.  
  
"When ever you want though I think that maybe you should stay here for awhile, to build up your strength."   
  
"That's ok. I think I want to get out of here as soon as possible." Duo said and sat up. He had always been a fast healer so he wasn't even dizzy from being flat on his back for two months.  
  
Within the hour, Duo was dressed, his bill paid from his savings account, and was checked out. Now he was on his way back to the house that he shared with the other ex-Gundam pilots. "This will be the last time I come here as someone who lives here." he said to himself as the taxi stopped in front of the house.  
  
Telling the driver to wait for a couple minutes, he hurried inside and upstairs to his room. The door was open and it was obvious that someone came in there often, considering there was no dust anywhere and the bed looked as though someone had been sleeping in it.  
  
"I guess that it's a good thing I'm moving out since this is no longer just my room." he said to himself as he grabbed a pair of suitcases out of the closet and threw all his clothes in them. Then taking a backpack, he put his picture books and a couple of other things in it and left as quickly as he came.  
  
  
  
  
  
Heero sighed as he sat at the bar and ordered another beer. 'I wish he would just wake up.' he thought as he downed his beer. Paying the bar tender, he left and headed back to house. Quatre was at a meeting for one of his many companies, Trowa had to perform at a special opening with the circus, and Wufie had a special class to teach at the dojo that he ran. Heero hadn't wanted to visit Duo alone because the silence from the Deathscyth pilot tore at his heart.   
  
Ever since the day that Duo had tried to kill himself, Heero had blamed himself and that was not something that he was used to or liked. So he had emersed himself in his Preventers work but today was his day off. Ever since the other three pilots had quit the Perventers a month ago, he had been a lone. Duo had always stayed with him no matter where they had to go for a mission of when the others left for their own missions. But Duo was in a coma and Heero had driven him to it.  
  
Entering the house he headed up to Duo's room like it was his own. He had been spending some time in there when no one else was around, looking through the many picture books that he had found on the top shelf of the closet. He had changed a lot since Duo went in to the hospital.  
  
Opening the door to Duo's room, he noticed that the dresser drawers were open and empty and the closet door ajar. Rushing to the closet, he flung open the door, only to find that everything was gone.  
"What the hell is going on here?"  
  
  
  
  
  
"Hi Heero. Did you go to the hospital today?" Quatre asked as he passed the door to the living room. Heero was sitting on the couch, but he got up when Quatre went past.  
  
"Quatre, did you get rid of Duo's things?" he demanded.  
"No. They should still be in his room. Why do you ask?"   
"Everything is gone."  
  
"What! That can't be!" Quatre exclaimed and rushed up the stairs to Duo's room. Sure enough, just like Heero had said, everything was gone.  
"I don't understand."  
"Neither do I."  
  
  
  
  
  
Wufie and Trowa had no idea about what had happened either when they got home a few minutes later and none of them knew that the one responsible for it was on a shuttle to the colonies at that very moment.  
  
  
  
  
  
"I'm sorry, but Duo Maxwell checked himself out yesterday." the resptionist said as she consulted some papers.  
  
"But, he was in a coma for the past two months! How could he just wake up and check himself out?" Heero demanded.   
  
Duo's doctor spoke up from behind the quartet. He had been passing by when he had heard what was going on. "Dou woke up, and was perfectly fine. As he was a legal adult and of sane mind, we couldn't hold him."  
  
"But..." Quatre started but was interrupted by the doctor.  
  
"You four weren't here yesterday when he woke up. Maybe if you had been, then you could have convinced him to stay where I could not."   
With that, the doctor turned around and left them alone.  
  
  
  
  
  
One year later  
  
  
  
  
  
"Excuse me, but I'm looking for the owner of this salvage yard. Would you know where I could find him?" A beautiful woman asked Duo as he worked on his motorcycle.  
  
"I'm Duo. What can I do for you?" Duo said as he stood up and wiped the grease from his hands and onto a rag.  
  
"My name is Sakura Tenda. I was sent by Lady Une, leader of the Preventers to find you." she said as she brushed some purple hair behind her ear.  
  
"Just how did she find me?"  
  
"A man with hair down to his knees tend to stand out in people's minds. Besides, there is only one Duo Maxwell on record on any of the colonies." Sakura said with a smirk.   
  
Seeing the smirk on her face, Duo was immediately suspicious of whom she said she was and why she was here but he decided to play along for know. During the past year since he had taken his things from Quatre's house, he had made quite a name for himself in the salvage business. He was the person to go to if you needed any parts, or anything.   
  
He had yet to get over what his friends had done to him however, so he kept tabs on all four of them so that if they came looking for him, he could leave before they found him. He had moved a number of times all ready to stay away from them but it was getting harder to pack up and move now that he had a number of salvage business under a number of different names. Whenever they got close, he 'sold' his business to a new name and moved on. He now had ten different salvage business under various names, but he didn't think that he could make another one any time soon.  
  
"What does she want?" he asked warily.  
  
"For you to become a preventer again."   
  
"I don't think so." he said and turned away. A moment later, he felt some thing hard crash into the back of his head. He turned just enough to see her putting down a piece of pipe before he passed out.  
  
  
  
  
  
Sakura sighed as she watched him pass out. She had approached him a number of times in different disguises over the course of the past year. She was employed by the New Oz to gather all of the Gundam pilots and she had decided to find the missing one first as the others would be much easier to find and secure.   
  
Pulling out a cell phone, she quickly dialed a number. When it was picked up, she said crisply, "Duo Maxwell is in my custody and will so be sent to the Moon base."  
  
"That is good. See to it that the others soon join him."  
  
"Yes sir." with that she hung up and signaled to a pair of huge men that were standing near the front door of the main office.   
  
As they picked him up, Duo's eyes suddenly shot open. "Who dare's to touch the God of Death?" he asked in an eerie sounding voice.  
  
"Duo, you are coming with us to the Moon base." Sakura said as she backed away a little and pulled out a gun. She was stunned to hear Duo chuckling evilly.  
  
After a moment he spoke again. "Duo Maxwell can't hear you any more. You released me when you knocked him out.  
  
"What? But..." Sakura started to say but was interrupted by the braided teenager.  
  
"You don't really understand what is happening do you?" Suddenly Duo jerked himself away from the two men. "Like he has been telling everyone for a long time now, he is the God of Death, and he and I are one. Just call me Shinigami." he said with a cruel smile.  



	2. Duo's pain ch2

I will refer to Shinigami as Shin whenever he talks to some one because I hate spelling out Shinigami every time.   
  
  
  
  
  
Duo's Pain  
Chapter 2  
  
  
  
  
  
"Like he has been telling everyone for a long time now, he is the God of Death, and he and I are one. Just call me Shinigami." he said with a cruel smile.  
  
Sakura stared at the braided boy in front of her and shivered. Duo's eyes were no longer amethyst but deep, bottomless black orbs. She watched, stunned, as a glowing green scythe appeared in his hand, and with a deceptively simple move of his body, beheaded the guards that were still standing next to him.  
  
Gasping, she stumbled a step back as he turned his hollow eyes towards her again.  
  
"Duo Maxwell is under my protection. Go back to your bosses at New Oz and tell them to leave him alone." Shinigami said coolly and she nodded quickly before running out of the salvage yard. If she had waited another few seconds or turned around and looked at the youth, she would have seen his eyes return to their nature color and then see him collapse. Just before he hit the ground, however he disappeared in a flash of green smoke.  
  
But she did not look back, and instead kept running until she got to the airport where a shuttle was waiting to take her back to HQ.  
  
  
  
  
  
Quatre sighed as he put down a file that he had been reading. No matter what he did, he just couldn't keep up with Duo. It seemed that he knew exactly where they all were and what they were all doing at every moment and managed to stay away from them. But why would he do that? Sure they had asked him to leave but Heero loved him and all four of them had visited him everyday except for the one day that he had woken up.  
  
"Quatre, turn on the news. There is something that you have got to see." Trowa said as he hurried in to his office and flipped on the TV that was in the corner.  
  
"...bodies were found at Duo Maxwell's salvage yard on L2 decapitated. Mr. Maxwell protests the allegations by saying that he was asleep when the murders took place."  
Quatre stared at the TV in shock as it showed the ex-Deathscyth pilot being lead away in handcuffs.  
"I don't believe it. Duo killed some one and then came up with the lamest excuse?" Quatre said in shock.   
  
"But Duo doesn't lie." Trowa said softly.  
"I know but this is still unbelievable."  
  
Suddenly the phone rang, startling the to guys.  
  
"Yes?" Quatre said as he picked up the phone and turned to the vid screen.  
  
"Have you seen the news?" Wufie demanded from the screen.  
  
"We're watching it now." Quatre said and Trowa came around the desk so that Wufie could see him too.  
  
"I'm going to head over to L2 to see him and ask him my self about what happened. This is not like him." Wufie said angrily and Quatre nodded.  
  
"We'll meet you there." Quatre said and Wufie nodded.  
  
Suddenly Trowa spoke up for the fist time since Wufie and Quatre had started talking. "Has Heero seen this yet?" he asked softly and Wufie just nodded.  
  
  
  
  
  
Heero had indeed seen the broadcast. He was currently in his office at the Preventers HQ trashing the place. All ready the TV and entertainment system had been demolished and there were a couple holes in the walls at various place around the room where he had put his fist through the wall.   
  
After about ten more minutes, he finally collapsed on the window seat and watched the rain falling.  
  
'How could he do this?' he thought to himself as he leaned his head against the windowpane. Behind him, the door opened quietly.  
  
"Yuy, we're going to go see Duo." Wufie said and Heero slowly turned around.  
  
"How could he lie like that?" he asked as Wufie approached.  
  
"We don't know, which is why were going up there to see if we can get some answers." Wufie said and Heero stood up.  
  
"When do we leave?"  
  
  
  
  
Duo sat on the cot in his jail cell and stared at the wall. The cell was an enclosed small space that had only a door, the cot, and a small light high above him on the ceiling.  
  
'How the hell did this happen?' he thought for the hundredth time. All he could remember was the lady, Sakura hitting him in the back of his head with a pipe from the salvage yard and then waking up in his own bed.  
  
'Shinigami, did you kill those guys?' he asked the other entity that resided in his body.  
  
'Yes.' Shin said calmly in his mind.  
  
'Why?'  
  
'New Oz was trying to kidnap you. I had to convince her to leave you alone.'   
  
'Couldn't you just reveal your true self like you did with those guys a couple years ago? We really do look a lot a like, you know.' Duo said silently to the God of Death who chuckled.  
  
'Yes, we do but if they had seen the bat wings sprouting out of your back, they might have went to their bosses and told them and then they would have hunted you down until the day you died. Those other guys were just thugs but these guys have higher connections.' Shin explained and Duo nodded in understanding.   
  
Realizing that the people monitoring the cell would find it strange that he was staring at the wall and nodding to himself, Duo quickly got off the bed and started exercising, as if he had nodded in his determination to do sit-ups.  
  
Suddenly, the door opened and two guards came in to the room and grabbed him by each arm and dragged him out the door. The only reason he was let out of the cell with only two guards was that her was still wearing the cuffs that joined his wrists together and made it hard for him to do anything with his arms and hands.  
  
They pulled him down the hall to a room where they sat him down in a chair, then left him alone. Looking around, Duo saw five different cameras trained on him and knew that they had microphones hidden all over so that they could hear anything that was said, even a whisper.   
  
Suddenly the door opened again and he watched, shocked, as Quatre, Trowa, Wufie, and Heero entered and the door was slid shut behind them. Schooling his face into a cool mask of disinterest that he didn't feel, he stared at them as they sat down around him on various chairs.  
They stared at each other for a few minutes before Duo finally spoke. "What do you want?" he asked in a neutral voice.  
  
There was silence for a moment before Quatre asked softly, "Why did you kill them?"  
  
"I may run and hide, but I never tell a lie." Duo snapped as he stood up and started to pace. "You know me better than that, Quatre. If I said I was sleeping, than I was sleeping. After all we went through together back then, you have the nerve to come here and ask why I killed two guys that I never touched?!" he shouted the last part as he spun around to face the group.  
  
"Then why don't you tell us what happened." Trowa suggested softly and Wufie nodded solemnly.  
  
"Fine. I'm working on my bike and this woman calling herself Sakura Tenda came up and said that she was sent by Lady Une to ask me to become a Preventer again. I started to walk away after refusing and she hit me over the head with a pipe. The next thing I know, I'm waking up in my bed with a major head-ache and the police banging on my door." Duo snapped as he twisted his head sharply to get his braid back over his shoulder to hang between his shoulder blades. Turning, he stomped over to the huge window that looked out at the stars.  
  
Things were silent behind him for a moment, then Wufie asked in a hard voice, "Do you have any idea how you got into your bed or how those men died?"  
  
"Oh, don't you know? Shinigami killed them with his scythe and then transported me there." Duo said as brightly as he could, knowing that that they would never believe him. Turning around, he glared at them for a moment before he stomped back over to his chair and slumped in to it.  
  
  
  
  
  
After hearing Duo's last statement, Heero closed his eyes and sighed quietly. Looking up after a moment, he asked quietly, "Why did you leave when you got out of the hospital?"  
  
Duo stared at him for a moment before saying, "I was simply follow what you guys told me to do. You did tell me to go away and leave you guys alone."  
  
"But Duo, you were in a coma for two months. Why didn't you just stay in the hospital for a while and recover?" Quatre asked as he leaned on his lover.  
  
"Why did you guys bother to even save me? You made it plenty clear that I wasn't to disrupt your lives any more." Duo said bitterly and the others gasped, not having realized that he had heard what they had said after he had run upstairs.  
  
"I appreciate your little protest about kicking me out as being a little drastic, Quatre, but all you had to do was tell me that you had work to do." Duo said and Wufie immediately sat up straight with an angry look on his face.  
  
"Maxwell we were always..." he started but Duo cut him off.  
  
"You were always telling me to shut up, Wufie, but never once did you ever give me a reason to. The four of you, after the war, became so silent and withdrawn that I was trying to get you guys to open up a little and in the process I fell in love, but then that didn't ever really matter did it? I was just a nuisance to you four." he snapped but they just sat there staring at him in silence.  
  
Finally Quatre said softly, "We're sorry Duo, but all of us were in a bad mood that day and we have regretted it ever since." He would have continued but Duo spun away and walked over to the door and started banging on it with his shackles Soon the two guards that had brought him in, opened the door and came in.  
  
"We're finished so you might as well take me back to my cell." he said and just before he left, he said, "I wish that none of this had ever happened. But you don't have to lie about what you think and feel. Don't come after me again."  
  
Heero just stared at the closed door after he had left with the guards. Finally it opened again and an officious man came in.  
  
"Thank you for trying to help but maybe it would have been better if you had stayed on the topic of the murders." he said snootily and Heero punched him before storming out with the others following behind him.  
  
"You know, he was right. We never did give him a reason to shut up and was always trying to cheer us up after we all moved in together. But I can't believe that he thought we were lying when we said we were sorry for what we had done." Quatre said quietly as they got into the car and drove back to the hotel they were staying at. No one said anything for the rest of the night, each occupied by his own thoughts.  
  
  
  
  
  
'You know, I think they really meant it when they said that they had been regretting it ever since.' Shin said thoughtfully as Duo was left alone in the cell.  
  
'Who asked you?' Duo said silently as he lay down on the bed and tried to get comfortable.  
  
'Just voicing my thoughts.'   
  
'Well voice them some where else.' Duo snapped and quickly fell asleep.  
  
  
  
  
  
One of the technicians was watching the recording of the meeting between the five guys in the viewing room when he suddenly started to feel sorry for the braided youth. "Sounds like this Duo kid went through a lot with these guys and they just turned their backs on him, or at least thinks they did." he said thoughtfully to his friend who was watching the tape also.  
  
"Yeah but I wonder who it was that he fell in love with." the friend said and the technion nodded. Looking at the monitor that showed the prisoner's cell, he suddenly saw the cell door blow open and armed men ran in and grabbed the prisoner. They put a cloth over his face and his struggles became weaker until they finally stopped, but the technician didn't see this because he was already sounding the alarm. His friend did, however and it made him wonder what these big men wanted with a suspected murderer and made them break into a prison and kidnap him.  
  
  
  
  
  
Duo woke up to the sound of the door to his cell being blown open. Before he could even sit up, two big men grabbed him and clamped a cloth with chloroform on it over his nose and mouth. Holding his breath so that he wouldn't breath it in, he faked passing out, almost doing so in the process for air loss, until they removed the cloth and tossed him over one of their shoulders.   
  
He was carried out of his cell and soon found himself in the back of a van that sped off before the guards even got near them. Duo cracked his eyes a little to see who was in the van with him and saw the two men who had grabbed him and, surprisingly, Sakura Tenda who was watching him nervously.  
  
"So tell me, where is this Shinigami that protects him?" the man driving the van sneered as he pulled into the shuttle port.  
  
"I know that it sounds like I'm making it up but it was Shinigami that killed Tenchi and Toma. And you know that they were decapitated like a laser did it." Sakura snapped as she brushed a strand of lavender hair behind her ear.  
  
'Do you have tell everyone you meet that you are Shinigami?' Duo silently snapped and Shin chuckled and took over Duo's body before he could stop him.  
  
Shin chuckled out loud as he sat up and casually snapped the handcuffs like they were made out of tissue paper. The four people in the van stared at him in shock for a second as Shin leaned against the side of the van.  
  
"I thought you had learned your lesson the last time." he said in amusement to Sakura who edged closer to the front of the van, trying to get away from the grinning God of Death.  
  
"This is not by my choice." she whispered and flinched as he threw back his had and laughed.  
  
Wiping the tears of laughter from his eyes, Shin smirked at her and said, "Well, I guess that I can't really expect to much of New Oz. Let me guess, they sent you out to try and gather all the Gundam pilots to keep them out of your way when you try to take over the colonies and earth, right?" She nodded faintly and he burst into laughter again.  
  
So preoccupied by laughing, he didn't see the fist arching towards his face until it connected with his cheek, knocking him out and allowing Duo to gain control again. The others watched in surprised as the black orbs changed to the color of amethysts.   
  
"Shin?" he said and thought to the entity but received no reply. Sighing he said, a little pissed, "I hate it when you take over like that, you ass."  
  
"Wh.. what?" Sakura stuttered as she leaned forward a little to look into his eyes.  
  
"Never mind. So you guys are from New Oz?" he asked and when they nodded, he smirked and pushed open the back of the van, which had come to a stop by a shuttle that was ready to launch, and tumbled out on to the ground.  
  
The two men from the back of the van lunged out after him and a couple that were waiting nearby closed in around him. Duo found himself surrounded by five men, all armed, and knew that if something drastic didn't happen, he was in deep shit.  
  
"I think you guys had better just walk away. I don't want to have to hurt you but I will." he said dangerously, but they just smirked at him.  
  
Suddenly, one of them lunged and the fight between the God of Death and New Oz's men began. Duo managed to knock out two men but then the other three ganged up on him. Two grabbed his arms and held him while the third pounded on him. The man's gun had been lost earlier and the other two were having a hard time just holding him still.  
  
'What happened?' Shin said in Duo's mind startling him.   
'You were knocked out when one of them punched us in the face.' Duo said and began gasping for breath as the man in front of him punched him in the stomach, knocking the air out of him.  
  
'Get us out of here, Shin!' he shouted silently as he dropped to his knees and black dots danced in front of his eyes.  
  
'You got it.' In a flash of green smoke Duo disappeared, just missing a kick aimed for his head. The guards and Sakura stared at the spot where he had disappeared for a moment before Sakura said, "Ha! I told you so!"  
  
  
  
  
  
Duo appeared in the middle of the floor of his bedroom at his apartment. In side his head, Shin said quietly, 'Duo there are some consequences I think you should know about. Because of the length of time that I have been living in you, you are becoming me. Or at least like me.'  
  
"What? What do you mean?" Duo gasped out loud as he dragged himself to his bed and collapsed on it.  
  
'What I mean is that I've stayed in this body for to long. We are starting to merge. I didn't realize it at first, but when I was knocked out from that punch, it suddenly occurred to me that I wasn't supposed to be able to be hurt. But the weakness of your body is affecting my body.' Shin explained quietly.  
  
'So I really am going to become the God of Death.' Duo thought with a slightly ironic chuckle. 'So what is going to happen to me?'  
  
'That depends on if I can get out of you in time. If I do, you will be slightly stronger than a normal person and you won't age as fast everyone else and you'll be able to materialize my scythe on your own.  
  
'But if I can't, then we will merge fully and though we will have two mind, I would never be able to get out. Not to mention, I would get all of your memories and you would know all mine.' Shin finished, and Duo just stare up at the ceiling in shock.  
  
"Well, that sucks. I don't want any one to know what I've been through." he said out loud again.  
  
'Yes that does suck. Now I need to concentrate for a while so why don't you go to sleep.' Shin said and Duo sank into a deep sleep with in a few seconds, thanks to some mental prompting from Shin, whose half brother was sleep.  
  
'If only you knew how hard it is to separate from a body that you are bonding to.' Shin thought as he took control of Duo's body and disappeared in the green smoke again.  
  
Just as he disappeared, police officers came charging into the house, looking for whoever had broken in.  



	3. Duo's pain ch3

Duo's Pain  
Chapter 2  
  
  
Shin appered in the middle of a large room that was filled with other people, most of which had wings or other odities. He let his true form take over as he quickly headed to the double doors at the end of the room.   
  
'This is not good. I've never stayed this long in a host before. I don't know if it's even possible to seperate at the stage of the game.' he thought as he walked through the doors and entered a room futher down the hall.  
  
"Uncle, can I talk to you for a mintue?" he called into the dark room and then followed that soft voice that told him to come closer and sit down.  
  
"What is it, my young niefue?" The question came from a tall, willowy man with black hair and green eyes. He would have almost appered normal except for his exceptional beauty and the huge black, feathered wings that were folded behind him.  
  
"I have stayed in this body for so long, we're starting to merge. But this human is still in danger and I don't want to abandon him right now. What can I do?" Shin said as he sat down in a leather bound chair in front of his uncle.  
  
"I know you do child, but you don't have to abandon him totaly. You can either take a human form of your own and stay with him to protect him, or you can inhabit someone close to him to keep an eye on him."  
  
"I can't inhabit anyone close to him at the moment becouse at the moment his friend that helped run his first slavage yard won't talk to him and the guys who he worked in the war with, well there was some trouble with them a year ago and now, my host won't let them near him."  
  
"That still leaves the creating your own body. But a warning, don't stay like that for to ong at a time or you will start to become human." Shin's uncel said in a serious voice and Shin nodded in understanding.  
  
"Thanks for you help, Uncle Tobias. I need to get out of him soon, or I'll be stuck here." Shin said with a smile as he stood up.  
  
"Before you go, what is the name of the person you have inhabitied?" Tobias asked quietly.  
  
"Duo. Duo Maxwell. He looks almost exactly like I do."  
  
"Duo Maxwell?!"  
  
At the strangled sounding exclaimation, Shin turned back to his Uncel, who was suddenly looking very pale. "Uncel? What's wrong?"  
  
"It's nothing. I'll tell you another time." Tobias said in dismissal and Shin nodded and disappered in his usual puff of green smoke.  
  
Tobias stared at the spot he had been standing and sighed. 'It was so long ago that I first heard that name, and saw that small boy with the violet eyes and long chestnut hair. That was when I had been a Shinigami, before I had made a name for myself.'  
  
FLASHBACK  
  
"Are you ready to go now?" Tobias, then know as Shinigami, asked as he knelt next to the small boy known as Solo. He was currently on assinment on colonie L2. A plague was sweeping the colonie and he was very busy aeperating the souls from their bodies.  
  
"But what about Duo?" Solo gasped as he looked towards a small boy with long brown hair and huge violet eyes.  
  
"I will come for him when his time comes. Untill then, he will live, but your time is over, I'm afraid." Tobias said regretfully. He wasn't like other Shinigamis, who enjoyed their work. He hated it, because sometimes, like this boy, they had others who depended on them and were reluctant to leave them behind.  
  
"Don't worry, Solo. I'm sure this man will look after you, where ever you go." Duo said quietly as he started to cry.  
  
Tobias looked at the small boy in surprise. The kid was no where near his death, and yet he could clearly see him. This was unheard of because no one was supossed to be able to see him unless they were dieing, and here was this six year old kid with haunted violet eyes and enough hair to make up a couple wigs, looking right at him.  
  
"I'll miss you, Solo. Sorry. It's all my fault that your dieing. If I had only been faster, then you would've had this medican and you could have lived." Duo said guiltily and Solo just shook his head.  
  
"Not your fault, Duo..." he trailed off with a sigh as Tobias reached down and freed the older boy from his body.  
  
Look down at the small boy, Tobias sighed and vanished with the recently departed, the boy watching them with eyes to old for his young face.  
  
END FLASH BACK  
  
'I can't seem to escape from that kid, even after all these years.' Tobias thought as he stood up and went over to a small cabinate. Opening it, he took out a bottle of brandy and a glass. After downing a glass and pouring himself a refill, Tobias sank back into his chair and though back to another time that he had seen Duo.   
  
They had met many times already as other friends of his and people he had considered family slowly died around him, all the while that he never came close to dieing himself. No matter what, even if everyone else around him died, he survived somehow. Like at the Maxwell Church Massacur...  
  
FLASHBACK  
  
Tobias was busy moving around the church ground releasing the deads' souls during the fight between the Alliance and rebel soliers that had taken refuge in the Maxwell Curch. They had fired on the Alliance and the Alliance had open fire back, killing both the soldiers and the people who lived in the church.  
  
The church was a home for Father Maxwell, Sister Helen and the war orphans that they helped untill they could be adopted. Now, the church was ruble that was scattered around and the minister and the nun were dying as they vainly tried to protect the few remaining childern with the only thing that could, their own bodies.  
  
Tobias sighed as Father Maxwell was shot in the back of the head as he crouched over a small girl with blond hair and green eyes and a little chinese boy that could only have been about three. The two children struggled out from beneth him and were also shot before they got more than a couple steps away.  
  
Turning towards the last group of survivers, Tobias noticed a young boy arounf nine with long brown hair and violet eyes watching him from under a small pile of debre that was pinning him from the waist down to the ground.  
  
"I see you are here again. Do you follow me around, waiting for the others to die?" Duo asked as Sister Helen tried to get the ruble off so that they could get away.  
  
"Who are you talking to, Duo?" Sister Helen asked as she tried to shoved a piece of wood that had once been part of piller that supported the roof of the chapel, off of him.  
  
"The Shinigami that keeps showing up. This is the tenth time that I've seen him." Duo said quietly and Sister Helen paused for a second to stare at him unbelivingly, then went back to work digging him out.  
  
"I don't follow you around and you shouldn't even be able to see me, unless you were about to die and then, I would send you to the after life." Tobias said as he watched the nun pull the boy to his feet after she had uncovered him enough, and then dragged him behind her as she rushed towards an overhang with the other children just behind them.  
  
Suddenly, one of the smaller kids tripped and fell, quickly being left behind as the others just rushed on, not even relising that the little girl wasn't with them. Just as they reached the overhang, Duo relised that she wasn't with them and saw her curled up infront of a mobil suit that was about to step on her.  
  
"Stay here Sister Helen." Duo gasped as he darted back out to get her. As the oldest one there, he had always tried to help the younger ones, and this time was no exception. But by the time he got there, the MS had already stepped on the little girl and was taking aim at the overhang, thinking that there were rebel soldiers hiding there.  
  
"No, stop. Noooooooooooo!!!!!!!!" Duo screamed as the MS opened fire and the over hang collapsed on the scared goup of children, none older than six years old, and the resigned nun that was holding onto them.  
  
Tobias watched silently as Duo rushed back to where the others had been only a moment earlier and started digging at the mound with his bare hands, startling the Alliance soldiers that saw him as he threw chunks of rock and wood away with almost superhuman strength that came from panic.  
  
Duo soon uncovered Sister Helen, who was still barely alive. He held her gently as she gasped for breath enough to speak. "D...uo. Live...like you...have no...worries...and enjoy...life. Remember...there is always...someone with...you." Finally she closed he eyes and slipped gently away into death, where Tobias sent her ahead to heaven, or reincarnation, which ever God chose.  
  
END FLASHBACK  
  
'That kid didn't cry at all. He just stood there and watched as they loaded up the nun and all the others in those body bags with that empty look in his eyes. He never really forgave himself for not being able to help them that day or when any of the others died.' Tobias thought then closed eyes and hoped that his neifue would be able to help the young man with the uncanny talent to see other worldly beings and the troubled soul.  
  
  
  
(Author's note: Time in the other world is diffrent, An hour there is about two days in the really world. Now back to the story!)  
  
  
  
  
Shin reappered in one of the safe houses on Earth that the Gundam pilots used if they ever needed to get away from something, like if the press or someone else was after them, they could go there to recuperate and have some peace.  
  
He had stopped by Duo's aprtment first and grabbed some clothes for the both of them after he had made his own body. After all, he would have no clothes unless he materialized tham and he hated to do that right after doing something as hard as seperation himself from Duo would be, and Duo certianly couldn't go around in the clothes he had been given in jail.  
  
Settling down on the bed in one of the bedrooms, he began to concentrate on seperating himself from the mind and body of Duo. But he was unaware of the four guys that were approching the safe house to sleep for the night before going back to their normal lives again.  
  
  
  
"I just wish that we knew what had happened to Duo. Why would those people kidnapp him from prison? It just doesn't make any sense, and I worried about him." Quatre said as he pushed open the door to the safe house. It was almost eleven o'clock at night and the entire group was tired from the long shuttle ride back to earth. They had decided to stay at the safe house untill morning, then go their seperate ways, Heero back to the Preventers HQ, Wufie back to the dojo he ran, Trowa back to the circus and Quatre back to his companies.  
  
"I agree. Duo wouldn't go with them and the only people who would break him out of jail that way would be someone that wanted him as a prisoner for themselves." Trowa said and Heero and Wufie nodded in agreement.  
  
"I wonder where he is right now." Heero said softly and left before the others could say anything else. Going up the stairs, he had a feeling that something was no quiet right and it only increased as he got closer to his room.  
  
Opening the door, he stopped in shock as he caught sight of the figure that was laying on the bed. It was to dark in the room to see clearly so he flicked on the light and gasped loudly as he saw the long braid of brown hair that was laying across the chest of the person who mattered the most to him in all the world. "Oh my god... Duo!"  
  
  
  
  
Quatre, Trowa and Wufie's heads all jerked up at the startled shout that came from upstairs. They had just been preparing to go to their own rooms when they heard the ex-Wing Zero pilot call out.  
  
Rushing up they stairs, they piled in to Heero's room and stopped in shock as they saw Heero kneeling next to the bed, holding the hand of the missing long haired pilot that they had just been discussing.  
  
They could all see the bruises on his face and they wondered about what had happened to him. Just as Quatre was about to ask Heero if Duo was alright, Duo opened his eyes, which were black, and sat up, pulling his hand from Heero's.  
  
  
  
  
"You four need to leave for now. I need to concentrate and both Duo's and my exsistance depends on it." Shin said to the shock of the others in the room. He had felt heero pick up Duo's hand just as he had started the seperation. It had taken a minute to come back enough to stop the distraction before something happened and he messed up. If one thing went wrong, he could be stuck in Duo forever.  
  
"What?" Heero said confused. Shin could see it in his eyes and sighed. He had wanted to advoid telling the others untill after the seperation had happened and everything was resolved with New Oz.  
  
"Let me explain a few things. I am not Duo. I am Shinigami, but just call me Shin." he said with a quick grin as he transformed in to his true form. He basicly looked excatly the same, just a little bit older with the black bat wings and black eyes that seemed to bottomless.  
  
Heero, Trowa, and Wufie just staired at him in shock, and Quatre fainted into Trowa's arms. "Wake him up and I'll explain everthing that you can understand." Shin said and leaned against the head board as Trowa tried to revive his lover.   
  
After a couple minutes, Quatre woke up with a started and turned fearful eyes at the winged wonder sitting on the bed, grinning at him.  
  
"Are you ready to listen to me now?"  
  
Everyone nodded and Shin sighed as he began to explain a few things. "Before I tell you anything, let me tell you that Duo has been through more than all of you put together. He has a better grip on reality than any of you, even you, Perfect Soldier." he said with a grim smile at the surprised group.  
  
"What do you mean?" Wufie demanded but Shin just shook his head.  
  
"I'm not going to answer that. If he wants you to know, he will tell you himself." he looked at each of the faces in front of him before continuing. All four looked like they wanted to press the issue but wanted to find out what was going on more.  
  
"I ment Duo about eight and a half years ago, right after I began active Shinigami duty after I had taken over my uncle's place. I had went to L2 to release the souls from some victems of a shoot out between the Alliance and some rebels. Some innocents had gotten in btween the groups and had gotten killed. Duo had been trying to save this one girl's life but stopped as soon as I showed up..."  
  
  
  
FLASHBACK  
  
  
  
"Hold on Mell. I'll take care of you." Duo said as he tried to stem the flow of blood from a gunshot wound on the girl's chest.  
  
"It's to late, Duo." Mell said as she smiled up at the eleven year old crouched above her.  
  
"No! You can't die too!" he said but suddenly looked up and stared at the older boy that had appered above them. He had to have been twenty and had long brown hair that fraimed his heart shaped face, which had bottomless black orbs for eyes. But what caught his attenchen, was the big black bat wings that were folded behind him and the glowing green scyth in his hands.  
  
"I suppose that you are here to take her. What happened to the one with the black hair and green eyes? He's usually the one that showes up." Duo said bitterly and Shin just stared at him in shock since he knew full well that people who weren't about to die shouldn't be able to see him unless he willed them to.  
  
Not waiting for the new Shinigami to answer, Duo turned back to the girl on the ground and smiled a small, bitter smile at her. "I guess it's time for you to go." he said and stood up to face the newcomer. "Hurry up and take her. You have more to release."  
  
"How can you see me? You're not about to die." Shin said, surprised, and the boy chuckled humorlessly at him.  
  
"I've been able to see your kind for years. What do you do, follow me around?"  
  
"No, this is my first job." Shin said numbly.  
  
Duo didn't say anything but just turned around and walked away.  
  
  
  
END FLASHBACK  
  
  
  
"After that, we met a couple more times and then he was taken in by Professer G for training and I didn't see him for a while untill I arrived to release a soul and found that it was his."  
  
  
  
FLASHBACK  
  
  
  
Shin appered in his customary green puff of smoke and immeditaly say the thin figure laying on the floor as doctors tried to get him breathing again. As with all the others that he release, he immditaly knew what was killing him.  
  
The doctors had been building up his strength, endurance, and immunity to variouse drugs and dieses. One of the doctors had given him to much of some drug and Duo had a bad reaction to it and had stopped breathing. He was still concunce and was stareing at Shin as he approched. He wasn't scared. He had a calm accptance, like he was glad that his time had finally come.  
  
"Will he live?" G asked from a little ways away.  
  
"At the way things are going, he doesn't have a chance." one of the doctors said as he pumped the boys chest while another did CPR to him.  
  
"You want to die, don't you?" Shin said softly to the boy, who nodded slightly, as he started to pass out from oxygen depletion.  
  
"Well, you can do so much more for others alive." Shin said firmly and entered Duo's body.   
  
The doctors were shocked as he suddenly took a huge gasp of air and sat up and pushed the doctors away. Shin was currently in control, though the men surrounding him didn't relise this, and had scanned only enough information from the uncontance Duo's mind to know what had been going on.  
  
"Continue the tests." Shin said and G nodded.  
  
"After the doctors do some tests to make sure you are able to."  
  
"Fine."  
  
  
  
END FLASHBACK  
  
  
  
"We've been together ever since then and I've been able to get him out of some tight spaces, like that thing with New Oz trying to kidknapp him." Shin said and the others stared at him in shock, relising that the pilot that they had thought they had known was even more mysterious then they could have thought. It was almost impossible to think that Duo had been hiding this from them for so long.  
  
"Now you know, will you four leave? I can't have any distractions or I might just end up stuck here forever." Shin said and the others nodded as they headed for the door.  
  
Heero paused before leaveing and gently touched the hand the person on the bed. "Does he really hate us?" he asked quietly and Shin shook his head.  
  
"He is hurt and angrey, but he doesn't hate you, he can't. He cares to much for you." he said then motioned for Heero to leave and to close the door behind him.  
  
After he was alone, Shin sighed quietly to himself as he lay back on the bed. 'I hope you don't get to angrey that I told them some of your past.' he thought as he closed his eyes and began the task once more of seperating himself completely from Duo.  
  
Shin was going to miss being able to hear everything that Duo thought and he knew that Duo would miss his presence within him because he hadn't truely been alone since he had been a kid.   
  
Now, he would be.  
  
  
  
"Do you think he's going to be ok?" Quatre asked the others as they sat on the couches in the living room.   
  
"I hope so. But I can't believe that Duo kept that a Shinigami was with him for so long." Quatre said softly as he leaned against Trowa, who nodded as he wrapped his arm around the smaller pilot.  
  
"Well, he always did clame to be Shinigami, even with his moto about never telling a lie." he said and Wufie snorted.  
  
"I'm not sure I believe this." he said and the others looked at him in surprise.  
  
"But you saw him transform and you heard the story, who could you not?" Quatre demanded.  
  
"The transformation could have been a hologram and he could have broken his rule about lieing." Wufie said as he leaned back in the arm chair he was sitting in.  
  
Heero, who had been silent until now said, "He was real. I touched his hand while he was changed and it was real, though I did get a strange feeling, almost as it he was both Duo and something from another world."   
  
"Well that makes sense. He is a God of Death." Trowa said quietly and Quatre nodded.  
  
"Well, we'll just have to wait to see if Shinigami is real, won't we?" Wufie said and closed his eyes, preparing himself to wait. 


	4. Duo's Pain ch 4

Duo's Pain  
Chapter 4  
  
  
  
  
Shin silently began separating himself from Duo as the four Gundam pilots were discussing them downstairs. 'Duo is going to kill me when he finds out that I told the others a little bit about him. Well, if I wasn't the God of Death already.' he thought wryly.   
  
Sighing, he began to separate their minds from where they were slowly becoming one. Everything that one saw and heard, the other did too. It had always been like two personalities in one mind or two people playing a video game, taking turns controlling the character.  
  
  
  
  
FLASHBACK  
  
  
  
  
"Well, you can do so much more for others alive." Shin said firmly and entered Duo's body.   
  
Duo screamed in his mind as woke up and felt the Shinigami's mind controlling his body. He felt a bitter anger at the death god for saving him as huge amounts of air rushed in and out of his lungs as Shin had forced the air way to open.  
  
'Why did you do that?!' Duo screamed at him.  
  
'If you give up right now, how are you going to save the kids who have nothing? How are you going to stop the useless fighting?' Shin demanded then said out loud "Finish the tests. We have a lot of work to do."  
  
Professor G glared at the young boy, then turned to the scientists and snapped at them to hurry up.  
  
'Why are you so eager to go through the training?' Duo snarled as the doctors prodded at them.  
  
'I want your body to be strong enough to handle fighting for me. I just can't let you die. I have a feeling that if you die now, the future is going to be a very bleak place.'  
  
'How would you know that?'  
  
'Seem to have a small amount of foresight. Just feelings really, but they seem to come true more than not.'  
  
"...you listening to me Duo?" a voice snapped, jarring the two out of their privet conversation.  
  
"What?' Shin asked, irritated.  
  
"I said are you listening to me? It's time to start again." G snapped and Shin nodded and stood up from the table.  
  
'Duo, why don't you just go to sleep for now? You must be tired.' Shin said as he followed the professor to another room in the complex that Duo had been training in for around six months.  
  
  
  
  
'What is going on?' Duo asked as he woke up a few hours later. They were currently in his cell...er...room, where he stayed whenever he wasn't under going training.  
  
'I finished your training for the day and you are currently being allowed to rest for the remainder of the day. Dinner should be here in about half an hour.' Shin said silently as he stretched out on the bed.  
  
'What happened?'  
  
'You will know everything that took place while you were asleep in about two hours. Since we are linked now, everything that takes place since we were joined with automatically be put into your mind and vise a versa when you are in control and I am asleep.'  
  
'Oh. Is this permanent?' Duo asked slowly.  
  
'No. I can separate us at any time. But I won't do that until what ever I sensed has come true.' Shin said firmly as he felt Duo about to say something, but then added silently to himself so that his companion wouldn't hear him, 'or until it's almost to late.'  
  
  
  
  
END FLASHBACK  
  
  
  
  
'I just hope that he'll stay asleep long enough to let me finish.' Shin thought as he finished with separating their memories. 'Now for the hard part.' he thought quietly as he began separating their souls.  
  
  
  
  
"How much longer do you think it will take?" Quatre asked as he snuggled up to his lover.  
  
"I don't know. Maybe it's already done." Trowa said as he gave the blonde a hug.  
  
"I don't think so." Heero said quietly as he stood up. He grabbed a coke from the fridge and chugged the whole thing, like how Duo usually did. As he tossed the can in the trash, Heero became aware of the three pairs of eyes that were starring at him in shock. He mumbled, "When I get nervous, I have to have caffeine." A faint blush warmed his cheeks as the others continued to stare at him in shock.  
  
"Oh." Quatre said as he too got up and came over to the fridge, though he didn't open the door. Instead, he wrapped his arms around the Japanese pilot and refused to let go, even after he felt Heero's body stiffen. After a long moment, he relaxed and wrapped his own arms around the Arabian.  
  
"Don't worry. Everything will be fine, Heero." Quatre said firmly and the taller pilot just nodded.  
  
  
  
  
Four hours later, the four Gundam pilots, who were sprawled out on the chairs and couches in the living room, heard a scream echo through the house. Quatre had been asleep laying on Trowa's lap and promptly fell off the couch as the scream jarred him awake. After helping his lover to his feet, Trowa rushed after Heero and Wufie with Quatre a step behind him.  
  
"Duo!" Heero yelled as he slammed open the door, but stopped in his tracks in shock, causing the others to almost run him over. As one the four pilots stared in shock at the bed.  
  
Duo's body was glowing an Erie green color as he lay on the bed. He's clothes were smoking ruins that lay around him on the bed and his nude body was covered in sweat. He was panting for breath and seemed to be in intense pain as he twisted and groaned on the blacked bed spread.  
  
They stared in shock as suddenly he screamed again and then seemed to explode. The green light intensified and grew until Duo was only a silhouette. He had his back arched off the bed suddenly a form seemed to grow from his chest. The shapeless form suddenly became another person, this one with bat like wings, who also began screaming in a voice that sound almost exactly like Duo's. Suddenly the wings disappeared and the form toppled to the side. After another minute, the light slowly died and the two figures on the bed became visible.  
  
They were naked, the new person laying partially on top of Duo. Duo's face was no longer filled with pain but was at least calm, thought he was still frowning. His breath was calming and he showed signs of waking up soon.  
  
The other body looked almost exactly like Duo, but there were some differences. For one thing, his hair, while the same length, was such a dark brown it almost black. Another was that he was obviously older then the teenager, maybe around twenty or twenty-five.  
  
Suddenly the older person on the bed groaned and sat up. Opening his eyes, the others could see that they were a deep, uncompromisingly blue with flecks of purple and gold. "Ow...that hurt more than I thought it would." he mumbled as he rubbed his head. Looking towards the door, he sighed as he caught sight of the four figures standing in the doorway with shocked expressions on their faces. "What the hell are you four doing here?"  
  
"We heard screams, so we came up to see if everything was all right." Quatre was the first to collect his thoughts as they all stared at the naked man as he stood up and headed in their direction.  
  
"I told you not to disturb us. If you had come in a minute earlier, I would have screwed up and would have been a permanent visitor in Duo's body." Shin snapped as he bent down to pick up a bag that was laying next to the door that the other pilots had missed last time they were in the room. Suddenly he wobbled and would have collapsed if Heero hadn't grabbed him and gentle brought him back to the bed and sat him down.  
  
"Are you alright?" Quatre asked as he and the rest approached the bed and formed a semi-circle in front of him.  
  
"Yeah. But I used up a lot of energy forming this new body so I'm going to be weak for a while." Shin said as he rubbed his forehead. "Can someone please get me that bag?" he asked, pointing to the bag still by the door and Quatre quickly went over and grabbed it.  
  
"What's in it?" Wufie asked, suspicious.  
  
"Clothes for me and Duo when he wakes up."  
  
"Why not just dress him while he's out of it?" Heero asked as he looked over at the ex-Deathscythe pilot.  
  
"You don't want to try to do anything to him when he's just coming out of a deep sleep like this. The last time some did, they wound up in the hospital for over six months in the ICU." Shin said and the others looked at him in shock.  
  
"But...we've done stuff like this all the time when he was still living with us." Quatre stuttered and Shin just shook his head.  
  
"The entire time that he lived with you guys, he was never in a sleep deep enough to make him react that way. In fact, the last time was when he was being trained by Professor G. One of the scientists came to wake him up after they had kept him up most of the night doing tests. When the scientist touched him, an automatic response kicked in and he attacked before he was even fully awake." Shin said quietly and the teenagers turned horrified looks at the sleeping Duo.  
  
"Where did this automatic response come from?" Trowa asked and Quatre and Wufie nodded.  
  
"From when he was a child. If he wants you to know more, he'll tell you. As it is, I've already told you to much." Shin said as he began to pull some of the clothes on from the bag.   
  
After a moment, Trowa spoke again. "Why don't we leave Duo in peace and go down stairs for a while. You could tell us some more about yourself, Shin." he suggested and Shin nodded and stood up. Turning to the boy on the bed, he gently covered him up with a sheet and brushed some hair out of closed eyes. Spinning around, he ushered the others out of the room and then followed them to the living room.  
  
"Would you like something to eat?" Quatre asked as Shin settled down on the couch nearest the stairs.  
  
"Would you have any coke or rootbeer? Caffeine helps me get some energy after I drain my powers."  
  
"Sure." Quatre was back a moment later with a can of rootbeer in one hand and a bag of chips in the other. "You need to eat something until I can make something for breakfast." he said looking at the clock on the wall, which read 3:30 in the morning.  
  
"Thanks Quatre. You we always such a sweet boy." Shin said as he popped the top of the soda and chugged the whole thing, much like Heero had done earlier that night. "What?!"  
  
"Never mind." Wufie said as he sighed and leaned back in his chair. Suddenly, they all heard a scream from upstairs.  
  
"Shin!"  
  
  
  
  
Duo slowly woke up from the Shinigami induced sleep that he had been in for the past five and a half-hours. At first, he wasn't sure about what had happened. the last thing he remembered was being in his bedroom at the salvage yard and then Shin saying something about sleep. Then suddenly, everything clicked into place. Shin had put him to sleep and had left him. He was now as a lone as when he had lost everyone when he was a kid on L2.  
  
'Shin?'  
  
'Shin, please talk to me.'  
  
'Anything. Say anything, but please don't be totally gone.'  
  
"Shin, come back." he whispered as tears started to trickle down his face.  
  
Suddenly he screamed his name as he collapsed back onto the bed, sobbing.  
  
  
  
Shin dashed up the stairs, mentally cursing himself as he realized what had happened. Duo hated to be alone and now he was even more alone then when he had first been picked by Professor G to under go training to be a Gundam Pilot. Now he woke up to find that the person who had been with him for five years was no longer there.  
  
He burst into the room and rushed to the bed where Duo was sobbing. "Duo! I'm here Duo. Don't worry, I won't leave you." he said as he gathered the wildly sobbing boy into his arms.  
  
"Don't leave me! I thought you were gone. I don't want to be alone again!" Duo cried as he clung to Shin.  
  
Heero, Trowa, Quatre, and Wufie stood in the doorway and watched as Duo cried on Shin's shoulder while Shin tried to comfort him. Over Duo's bowed head, Shin motioned for them to leave them alone for a while and Quatre nodded in understanding. Turning, he pushed the others out the door. After closing the door quietly behind them, Quatre turned to the startled pilots and said in a low voice, "Duo needs to calm down a little bit and at the moment only Shin can do that. If Duo saw any of us, it might push him away."  
  
No one said anything for a moment, then Heero gave a sharp nodded and stalked down the hall to the small study and laid down on the small couch. The others just watched him go before heading to their own rooms.  
  
"Trowa, I'm worried." Quatre said as they stripped down to their boxers and climbed into the bed they shared two doors down from where Shin was comforting Duo.  
  
"I know. I am too."  
  
"But I've never seen Duo like this. He never cried near any of us except the time that we kicked him out and then that was it. But he was almost hysterical when he thought he was alone. I just don't get it. He was always going off for a while on his own and he never got like this." Quatre said as he laid his head on Trowa's chest.  
  
"You have to realize that those times he went off on his own he was never was alone because he had Shin with him and he was never gone to long. The same goes for his missions that he had to do a lone, and he knew that we would be there when he got back." Trowa said logically as he wrapped his arms around the small blonde.  
  
"I just can't believe hat is the same Duo Maxwell that was forever pull pranks on us and cheering us up, even when we didn't want to."  
  
"I know."  
  
  
  
'Duo seemed so helpless and weak.' Wufie thought as he stared at the ceiling. He hadn't bothered to undress when he had laid down on his bed. He knew that within a few minutes he would get up and train some. He always did when he was troubled about something and he was defiantly troubled about what had been happening with the braided pilot.   
  
First, Duo tried to kill himself when they told him to leave. That was a very big shock to the Chinese pilot though he tried to hide it behind his mask of indifference. Then when he woke up from his two month long coma, he disappeared without a trace and then every time they got close to him, he ran. Duo gets arrested for killing two men at his salvage yard and says that Shinigami did it, which turned out to be true. Now, after Shin and Duo had separated, Duo was sobbing like a weak woman. It just didn't make sense.  
  
Sighing he got up and put his Chinese slippers on and headed out of his room and out side to do some katas. At least they made sense to him.  
  
  
  
  
"Duo, please calm down. I'm here and I'm not going to leave you. But you do need to get some clothes on." Shin said as he gently pulled away from the teenager's grasp.  
  
"Shin, how did this happen? Where are we? What's going on?!" Duo said as he wiped at the tears pouring down his face.  
  
"We had to separate, remember? If we didn't do it, I would have been stuck in your body for the rest of our immortal lives. Right now, we are at a safe house on earth and we have a complication." Shin said in a serious voice.  
  
"What do you mean a complication?" Duo demanded as he blew his nose on a tissue from the bedside table.  
  
"Just as I was beginning the separation, Heero and the others showed up. As a result the only way to keep them away until I was finished, was to tell them who I am and what was going on, which meant telling them how we first met and when we merged. I know you didn't want them to know about your past, so I only told them about those two times. But at the moment, they are waiting for you to tell them more about yourself. They are probably laying down for a few hours until morning." Shin explained and Duo just sat there in shock. He didn't want the others to know anything about his past and now they knew some of it.  
  
"I understand but could you just wipe their memories? I really don't want them knowing about then."  
  
"No I can't. I don't have the power now to even transport my scythe from subspace at the moment and I won't be able to for at least a week. By then, if I did, they would know they were missing something and they would become even harder to handle.  
  
Duo didn't say anything but just started to put the clothes on that Shin handed him. "Then we have to leave. Now before they realize that we're gone." he said after a minute.  
  
"We can't. You are to weak at the moment to walk from here to the kitchen without losing your breath, there is no way we can leave here for at least a week." Shin said firmly.  
  
"But I can't face them. I just hurts to much." Duo said softly.  
  
"I know it does. But I think that it's time that you work it out with them. After all, you do have to admit that were annoying some times." Shin said with a gentle smile and the young man chuckled faintly.  
  
"Well, I guess the first thing I should do is make them a great breakfast so that they know that I'm serious. I never used to cook for them." Duo said as he stood up shakily and Shin nodded as they both headed out the door.  
  
"I think I'll help you. I've never cooked anything and now that I have a human form to take care of, I guess I should learn to take care of it, shouldn't I?" Shin said with a smile that Duo returned.  
  
"Yeah. Trust me, it takes some getting used to. Cooking I mean. You remember the first time I tried to cook, right?"  
  
"Yeah. Even that mutt that hung around the yard wouldn't touch it." Shin grinned as he remember how the dog that would eat anything have run whimpering from the bowl of mush that was supposed to be corn beef and hash. Sure it was supposed to look like mush to a certain extent, but Shin didn't think it was supposed to look like it was going to get up and walk out of the bowl.  
  
After they reached the kitchen in silence, Shin glanced at his companion and asked, "What are we going to make? Nothing to hard right?"  
  
"I was thinking about making blueberry pancakes. They usually have plenty of fruits and vegetables at these houses, and all we have to is follow the instructions on the book." Duo said as he pulled out a recipe book from one of the shelves.  
  
Gathering all the ingredients, Duo wondered why it felt so right to cook something for the other Gundam pilots. 'It's not like we're so close anymore. We didn't each other for a year and now suddenly we are all together and I'm making pancakes for them.  
  
"Isn't it a little early to be making this?" Shin asked suddenly.  
  
Look at the clock, Duo sweat dropped as he realized that it was only four o'clock in the morning. It would be at least two or three hours before the others normally got up. "I guess we should wait a little while before making them. But I'm hungry now and I bet you are too. We can make some for us and some more after we're done for the others."  
  
Shin nodded and they began the task of making blueberry pancakes. Just as they finished and were sitting down at the kitchen table to eat the surprisingly good looking pancakes, Wufie came in through the back door, surprising them enough to almost drop their plates.  
  
"Wufie?" Duo squeaked.  
  
"Duo? What are you doing?"  
  
  
  
I know I should finish this scene between Wufie, Duo and Shin, but at the moment I'm too tired. Don't kill me. ^_^!!!  
  
Shinigami-chan  



	5. Duo's Pain ch5

Duo's Pain  
Chapter 5  
  
  
  
"Duo? What are you doing?" Wufie asked as he stared at the two long haired men standing in the kitchen holding plates of pancakes.  
  
Wufie had decided that no matter how much he exercised, the problem of Duo was not just going to go away and the sooner he face the fact that he didn't know what to do about it, the sooner he would get some much needed rest.  
  
Now, staring at the surprised Duo, he wasn't sure how to work anything out with him.  
  
"We were hungry so I made some blueberry pancakes. Do you want some?" Duo asked softly, surprising Wufie even more.  
  
"Are you sure they're safe to eat?" Wufie asked, not really thinking about what he was saying because he was still in shock that Duo had cooked something that didn't look like it was from a charcole factory.  
  
Hearing what Wufie had just said, Duo abruply put down his plate and hurried out of the room, a sharp pain growing in his chest, before the other two in the room could say anything.  
  
Shin started to go after him, but then spun around and punched Wufie in the face. "You ass! Do you have any idea about what you just did?" he yelled in the startled boy's face. "He offered you something he worked hard on as a peace offering and the first words out of your mouth are 'Are you sure ther're safe to eat?' What are you, stupid? You really hurt him!" Shin shouted then hurried out of the room.  
  
He hurried to the room that Duo had woken up in, knowing that was where Duo would most likely head. As he headed towards the door, Quatre and Trowa poked their heads out their door.  
  
"What's going on?" Quatre asked worriedly.   
  
"Me and Duo made some pancakes and Duo offered some to Wufie and the first words out of his mouth was to ask if it was safe to eat." Shin said quietly as he put his hand on the door knob to the room Duo was in. While Trowa and Quatre looked at each other in shock, Shin hurried into the room and closed the door gently behind him.  
  
"I can't believe that Wufie would say something lie that." Trowa said as he headed towards the stairs that led to the kitchen with Quatre right behind him.  
  
"Neither can I but you know how Wufie gets when his he upset about something. Anything could pop out of his mouth and Duo never really attempted to cook anything, that we are aware of, before." Quatre said as he brushed his bangs out of his eyes.  
  
"Let's just hope the damage isn't to bad that Duo won't trust us ever again. You know how sensisitive he is when he feels insicure."  
  
  
  
"I don't see why I even bother. Nothing has changed. I'm still the same old Duo that has o one and nothing, and they are still the self-rightchous basterds that couldn't care less about me." Duo snarled as he angrily wiped at the tears that were flowing down his cheeks as he paced around the room. Shin just sighed and enfolded the protesting boy in a hug. After a moment of struggling, Duo abruptly leaned into Shin and started crying on his shoulder.  
  
"It's ok, Duo. Wufie wasn't thinking when he said that. He was stunned at seeing you and he didn't know how to react. He just blurted out the first thng that came into his mind. After all, he had seen your food before, like the first time you tried to cook for the boys." Shin said as he sat down on the bed and Duo curled up in his lap, his arms still wrapped around the older man's waist.  
  
"Yeah, that was a disaster." Duo said with a watery smile as he remembered it.   
  
  
  
FLASHBACK  
  
  
  
"Everyone, don't come into the kitchen. I want to make dinner for everyone!" Duo yelled as herushed into the kitchen and slammed the door behind him.  
  
"Ok. But would you like a little help?" Quatre called as he headed up stairs to change out of h is greasy clothes. All the pilots had been working on their Gundams which had been damaged in the last battle.  
  
"No thanks. I want it to be a surprise for you guys!" Duo said cheerfully and then began to make an all American dinner for the others.  
  
"Let's see, for home-made french fries, I need to cut up the potatos and put some oil in a big pot...."  
  
  
  
  
An hour later, the other four pilots were sitting around the table in the dinning room, waiting fo Duo to bring out the food he had just made. They had heards loud bangs and curses coming form the other room for a while, but a few minutes ago, everything had gone silent.   
  
"I hope everything is alright in there." Quatre said quietly to Trowa, who nodded in agreement. Just then, the kitchen door opened and out walked a smokey, slightly burned and chared, Duo Maxell carrying a tray with charcole burgers and dark brown and black french fries.  
  
After setting the tray down and serving everyone, Duo looked at the others expectantly. "I know it doesn't look like to much, but I'm sure they taste just fine." he said and took a big bite of his burger. The others looked at his silenly as he chewed and swollowed the bite.  
  
"See? It's just fine." he said weakly, his face a pale green color.  
  
  
  
END FLASHBACK  
  
  
  
"That really was gross." Duo said as he sat up and wiped at his eyes.  
  
"So why don't we go back downstairs and make somemore for the others. I'm sure they came out fine and I think Wufie wants to apolagise." Shin said and Duo nodded quietly. Silently, the headed back down stairs but stopped at the dorr to the kitchen. Inside they could here Quatre yelling at Wufie.  
  
  
  
"How could you, Wufie?" Quatre screamed.  
  
"I didn't mean to say that. It just popped out." Wufie said quietly.  
  
"What if you just pushed him away again? I didn't spend the last year looking for him just to have you push him away just as we got him back." Quatre emanded but before ufie could say anything else, Duo and Shin opened the door.  
  
"Don't worry, Quatre. I'm not going anywhere. And besides, you remember the last time I tried to cook for you guys, right?" Duo asked and Trowa and Quatre nodded.  
  
"Listen Duo, I'm sorry for what I said." Wufie said suddenly and Duo just waved his hand.  
  
"Don't worry about it. I understand. But at least try them next time."  
  
"Sure."  
  
"Now that we're down here, why don't we all eat some." Heero said from behind Shin and Duo. He had come down right after the two long haired men had and had heard everything that Shin had tiold Trowa ans Quatre and then what he had told Duo.  
  
"We'll have to make some more but you guys can split eight already on the table." Shin said as he gently pushed Duo in the direction of the stove with a smile tugging at his lips.  
  
"They really do smell good." Quatre said as he grabbed some more plates out of the cupboard and put them on the kitchen table where the others joined him in dividing the pancakes.  
  
"These are really good." Trowa said after a minute with the others nodding before they turned back to their food. Within ten minutes all six were sitting at the table downing stacks of blueberry pancakes.  
  
"Where did you learn to cook this good?" Heero asked after a little while and the others nodded.  
  
"Living alone for a year, I had to learn how to cook and then just be carefull to follow directions. It's actually very easy once you get the hang of it." Duo said with a little smile.  
  
"Yes it is," Quatre agreed as he brought his plate to the sink. "but I thought you hated to do work?" he added after a moment when Duo came up and gently pushed him out of the way and began doing the dishes in the sink.  
  
"I've gitten used to it. Everyone, just dump your dishes in here once you're done." he said and then turned to Shin. "Did you happen to grab my cd carrier case? I'm really in the mood to listen to something."  
  
"Don't you remember that we put it into subspace a while ago?" Shin asked as he brought his plate over. "And now that you're diffrent, you can get it for yourself."  
  
"Really? I forgot about that part." Duo said thought fully as he placed a plate in the drainboard.  
  
The other four pilots had no clue about what was going on and it was very evident on their faces.  
  
"Maybe you should try to get my scythe before you try for the disks, just in case somethin happens." Shin suddegested and Duo nodded in understanding. He had some cds that you can't get anywhere anymore in there.  
  
After turning off the water and drying his hands, he held out his open palms and concentrated on the scythe and with in a minute, it flickered into exisitance in his hand.  
  
The others stared in shock at the green glowing scythe that Duo now held in his hands. They were just begining to relise that this was not the same Duo Maxell that they were used to.  
  
"Ok. Now that you can call the scythe, send it back." Shin said and nodded in aprovment as it disappered. A moment later, a case that could up to sixty cds appered in it's place and Duo quickly opened it and pulled out a cd.   
  
Looking around, he spotted the cd player that he had left behind two years ago when they were still fighting against Oz. Hurrying over, he poped the cd in and hit play. Within moments, Dido started singing.  
  
I didn't hear you leave  
I wonder how am I still here  
I don't want to move a thing  
It might change my memory  
  
As the first haunting words filled the air, the others stopped what they were going and listened to it. After a moment of surprise at the choice of music he had put on, they found themselves watching Duo as he sang along with the song as he finished the rest of the dishes, which Shin had brought to him.  
  
Oh I am what I am  
I'll do what I want  
But I can't hide  
  
I won't go  
I won't sleep  
I can't breathe  
until you're resting here with me  
I won't leave  
I can't hide   
I cannot be  
until you're resting here with me  
  
I don't want to call my friends  
They might wake me from this dream  
And I can't leave this bed  
Risk forgetting all that's been  
  
Oh I am what I am  
I'll do what I want  
But I can't hide  
  
I won't go   
I won't sleep  
I can't breathe  
Until you're resting here with me  
I won't leave  
I can't leave  
I cannot be  
Until you're resting here  
  
I won't go   
I won't sleep  
I can't breathe  
Until you're resting here with me  
I won't leave  
I can't leave  
I cannot be  
Until you're resting here with me  
  
Oh I am what i am  
I'll do what I want  
But I can't hide  
  
I won't go   
I won't sleep  
I can't breathe  
Until you're resting here with me  
I won't leave  
I can't leave  
I cannot be  
Until you're resting here  
  
I won't go   
I won't sleep  
I can't breathe  
Until you're resting here with me  
I won't leave  
I can't leave  
I cannot be  
Until you're resting here with me  
  
As the song finished, Quatre had tears in his eyes as he went over to Duo and hugged the surprised teen.   
  
"What's wrong, Quatre?" he asked as he wrapped his arms around the smaller boy.  
  
"That was beautiful Duo."  
  
"What?" Duo asked, not understanding what the blonde was talking about.  
  
"He means that that the song and your singing touched him." Shin said with an amused expression on his face.  
  
Duo blushed and said in teasing voice, "If I had known that you we're going soak my shirt because of a song, I would have put 'It's My Life' from Bon Jovi on instead."  
  
Quatre laughed as he released him and wiped at his eyes.  
  
Heero stepped foreward said in a quiet voice, "We need to talk, Duo."  
  
  
  
"Ok, what did you want to talk about Heero?" Duo asked. They were all sitting on he couches in the living room with Trowa and Quatre sharing a couche and Heero and Wufie on two chairs, and all of them surounding the chouch that Duo and Shin were sitting on.  
  
"Duo, we want to apologise for how we acted a year ago. We realised when you were in the coma that we had made a big mistake and we should have never told you to leave." Heero said quietly and Quatre nodded, but Duo interruped before the blonde could say anything.  
  
"It really hurt when you told me to leave. It was like I was something that you used until I wasn't needed anymore than tossed me away. You have no idea what that is like." Duo said as he ran a hand through his bangs.  
  
"I understand to a point." Quatre said quietly. "For the first fourteen years of my life, I thought I was a test tube baby just so that my father could have a heir for his companies, like my twenty-eight sisters."  
  
"What?!" Duo and Shin chorused.  
  
"Yeah. I found out that I was wrong a couple of months before I left on project Meteor. All my life I felt that my dad only jad me created just to make sure a male decendent with the Winner name inherit. After all, as long as a male was born with the name, it didn't matter how he was created." Quatre said bitterly and Trowa quietly squeezed his shoulders in comfort.  
  
"I was raised to find honor only in the strong. When I was younger I didn't want to learn how to fight, but they had decidied before I was even born that I was going to be a fighter just so that I could uphold the clan's honor in battle, even thought I wasn't suposed to be a Gundam pilot." Wufie said suddenly, surprising everyone, though Heero didn't let it show.  
  
"I was used as what ever they wanted where I grew up." This was from Trowa and it was Quatre's turn to comfort his lover.  
  
"I was raised to be a perfect soldier, no matter what I wanted and then after the war there was no more use for me." Heero said as he stared at Duo. "We have all felt like you do and it hurt all of us in one way or another. But we never ment to hurt you, after we calmed down, we realised that we didn't want you to leave, but as soon as we realised that, you shot yourself." he said, surprising Duo and Shin with both the length of his speech, and his in depth anlisis of events.  
  
"I...I need to think about this." Duo said as he stood up and headed towards the kitchen.  
  
They watched him disapper and then a minute later he was back with a can of soda. "Guys I was really hurt, but I guess I understand things fom your point of view. I was really a pain in the ass most of the time, even if I was trying to cheer you guys up. I...forgive you guys, but only if you forgive me for being a pain and flying off the deep end." he said and Quatre immeditally jumped and wrapped him in a hug with the others surrounding them.  
  
Right in the middle of the happy celibrating, the front door was kicked open and men smashed in through the windows. "Everyone freeze. New Oz is taking you into custody." 


	6. Duo's Pain ch6

Duo's Pain  
Chapter 6  
  
  
  
"Guys I was really hurt, but I guess I understand things fom your point of view. I was really a pain in the ass most of the time, even if I was trying to cheer you guys up. I...forgive you guys, but only if you forgive me for being a pain and flying off the deep end." Duo said and Quatre immeditally jumped and wrapped him in a hug with the others surrounding them.  
  
Right in the middle of the happy celibrating, the front door was kicked open and men smashed in through the windows. "Everyone freeze. New Oz is taking you into custody."   
  
The small group in the center of the living room frooze when they heard those words and saw the muzzles of the the guns that the soldiers were holding, point at them. Suddenly Sakura Tenda walked into the house, via the smashed door. She looked frankly nervous as she saw Duo, and then her eyes widened even more as she caught sight of Shin stand right behind him.  
  
"What.....?!" she exclaimed as an older man came up behind her.  
  
"What is wrong, Miss, Tenda?" he snapped briskly as he kept his eyes on the six in the livingroom.  
  
"The Shinigami is no longer in Duo Maxwell's body. It surprised me, General Masaki." she said as she edged a little away from the man.   
  
General Masaki was around fourty years old with black hair that was starting to gray at his temples and hard blue eyes that looked like they ice chips in a face like stone. He was about six' three and was very impossing in his New Oz uniform. Compared to Sakura's patite five' two with her long purple hair and huge blue eyes, it was like putting a lion next to a house cat.  
  
  
(I just realized that I never gave a discription of Sakura. Sorry. ^_^!)  
  
  
  
  
  
  
"What the hell is going on?" Duo asked during Sakura's short exchange with the General. He was standing with shoulder to shoulder with the other Gundam pilots in a circle facing outward with Shin in the middle. When the men had broke in, they had just formed up like this because they subcontiancly knew that they had to protect the God of Death while he was weak.  
  
"How did they find us? What do they want with us?" Quatre, who was right next to Duo, asked softly as he stared at one of the men pointing a gun at them from the kitchen door.  
  
"I don't know how they found us, but as to what they want with us is simple. They want to keep us out of the way when they take over the Earth and colonies." Shin whispered as he swayed suddenly. He was still incredably weak, the soda he had drunk earlier already starting to wear off. "Duo, one of the things you can do now is to teleport. I need to get back to the other realm, fast. My Uncle can give me a recharge for now but we can't let them get a hold of me. I may be in human form but I still have access to all my powers. If they every got a hold of that..." he trailed off but he didn't need to finish as each pilot was capable of imagining what would happen.  
  
"But I don't know how to teleport!" Duo whispered urgently.  
  
"I'll put the location we need to go into your mind. All you have to do is will yourself there. I want the rest of you to hold hands, or you will be left behind and I really don't think that you would want that." Shin said in a low voice and they nodded.  
  
Grabbing each others hands, Duo bowed his head, like he was going to pray, and began to concentrate on the images that Shin was projecting into his mind. While the soldiers surrounding them started to edge forward, intent on seperating them, Duo started to glow with a green aura that grew brighter with every passing second. Suddenly, his head snapped up to reveal that his eyes no longer had pupils and that they were glowing violet, an odd contrast to the green surrounding him. He screamed and then all six of them were gone, leaving behind only wisps of smoke.  
  
  
  
"I thought only the Shinigami could do that." Sakura said weakly as everyone, not including General Masaki, gaped at where the guys had been only seconds before.  
  
"Obiviously not. With both this Shinigami and Maxwell, New Oz will be undefeatable!"  
Masaki said in a satisfied voice as he ordered everyone to withdraw.  
  
  
  
Duo, Shin, and the other gundam pilots appered in the middle of Tobias's living room. They landed in a heap, just as Tobias was pouring tea. Looking at the tangle of arms, legs, and hair, Tobias sighed as he set down the tea pot and stood up.   
  
Dressed all in black, with his black hair and wings, and his intense blue eyes, he was quite a sight that greeted the pilots as they started to stand up. Heero and Wufie were on their feet first with Trowa helping Quatre up right after them. Unfortantly, Shin and Duo were still tangled up in each other's hair. Duo never had time to rebraid it and it was almost coming totaly undone, and Shin had never bothered to braid his in the first place. As a result Shin's hair was tangled around Duo's hands and was wrapped around his arms and neck, while Shin had his hand tangled in the remains of the braid, though most of the hair was loose already and was half pinned under Duo while Duo's leg was some how twisted around Shin's.  
  
After a moment of studying the four youths infront of him, Tobias sighed and said to the tangle behind them, which he couldn't see really see, "Shin, how many times have I told you not to just pop into my quarters? I may be your uncle, but you should still observe common curtisies. And why did you bring humans here? It's very dangerous for them."  
  
"Sorry Uncle, but I had to bring them here. New Oz knows about me being with them and they had caught us. And besides, I need your help. I'm so drained from seperating myself from my host and forming this human body, that I had to relay on my host to transport us. It's a side affect from the merge." Shin said as he stood up and stepped out from behind the teens.  
  
"Be that as it may be, I guess it was unadvoidable." Tobias said with a sigh. "Now which is the young man that transported you here?"  
  
"Right here." Duo said in a cold voice as he stepped out from behind Shin.  
  
"Duo. It's been a long time." Tobias said quietly as he looked the young man over. "You certanily look alot better than the last time we met."  
  
"Yes, well, alot has happened to me since I was nine." Duo said as he stared into Tobias's blue eyes. "What did you follow me around, just waiting for them to die?"  
  
"I'm sorry I had to take the others, but I shinigamis don't get the choice about who dies. That is up to Kami-sama." Tobias said as he sat down and gestured for the others to take seats around him.  
  
"He's right. I wasn't even supposed to save you when I merged with you." Shin said to Duo as he started trying to untangle his hair with his fingers. "In fact, if Kami-sama hadn't approved, you and I would have been destroyed immeditaly."  
  
Meanwhile Heero, Wufie, Trowa, and Quatre had no clue about what was going on. They were still a bit confused from the transportation and now they were totally lost as the three discussed things that had happened years before they had meet Duo.  
  
Your friends seem to be a bit confused." Tobias said suddenly with a small smile at the quartet.  
  
"This is all new to them. They haven't seen the embodiment of Death since they were children." Duo said and gave them a said smile.  
  
"Yes, and now you are part death." Tobias said sadly. "Do you understand what that means, Duo?"  
  
"To a point. Why don't you explain it to me?"  
  
"Because you and Shin were to gether for so long, your spirits were begining to merge, which is why it drained Shin so badly when he seperated himself from you." Tobias explained and Shin nodded in agreement. After taking a sip of tea, Tobias continued.  
  
"Because of the merging of your spirits, you gained some aspects of Shin. Take his teleportation powers that you used. All humans have that ability, though only immortials can access it. Through your merge, that part of your brain has been opened partially. In that section of the brain, there is the knowledge of time travel, teleportation, levitation, ESP, and about a dozen more things that normal humans only dream of."  
  
"But what about all those people who say the can read your mind and float things and stuff?" Duo asked.  
  
"Some people can tap into these things but they are few and far in between. Being able to send and grab things from subspace is another thing that you got from Shin. But a word of warning, don't try to send a living thing to subspace. They would die there. The only way to survive there is if a place, like a labrotory or a room, is created there. Washu, a genius from another deminsion, is the only person that I know of who can creat a stable enough environment that could support life in subspace."   
  
"Cool. I would love to meet her." Duo said with a grin.  
  
"...hahahahaha! No you wouldn't. Tenchi, who lives with her, has been made into her gunnie pig for her various experaments." Tobias chuckled while in the background Shin was howling with laughter. Both of them had meet the scientist and had barely escaped from becoming gunine pigs themselves.  
  
"I really feel sorry for him. He lives with Washu, Ryoko who is a space pirate and her cabbit   
Ryo-okie, Princess Ayaka and Princess Sasami from the planet Juri, and Mioshi & Kyonia (I know that most of these are spelled wrong but just ignore it. ^_^!) who are Galaxy Police officers. And most of them, with the exception of Sasami, after in love with him and are always chasing him. Expesially Ryoko and Ayaka." Shin said and the Gundam pilots just stared at him in shock.  
  
"Anyway, getting back to the topic at hand, you also can move things with your mind after someone shows you how and you exersize your mental muscles. Another thing is that you will now live about ten limes longer than your friends. That means while you still look the same as you do now, your friends will be in their seventies and about to die."  
  
"What?!" Heero yelled suddenly, looking like he was in the middle of a nightmare he couldn't wake up from and the others looked just as bad.  
  
"Is there anything I can do toage the same as them? I don't want to see them all leave me like that." Duo said shakely. Of course Shin had already told him all this, but it had never really hit him untill right now.  
  
"I'm afraid not. You will never be normal again and there is no way for them to live as long as you will unless four shinigami's decide to merge with them for the next five years and Kami-sama will never allow it to happen again like it did with you and Shin." Tobias said sadly.  
  
"So I have to watch them grow old and die while I stay young?"  
  
"Don't worry Duo. You will be able to do so much more good this way." Quatre said softly.  
  
"But I don't want to without you guys!" Duo said as he jumped up and started pacing around the room.  
  
"I'm sorry but that's just how it's going to be." Wufie said softly, looking very pale. The rest of the pilots nodded silently and Duo went over and wrapped his arms around Quatre, who hugged him back.   
  
Seeing that the teenagers needed some time alone, Shin and Tobias withdrew to another room to recharge the weak shinigami to full power. There was more to Duo's new powers but they didn't think he would be willing to hear anything from them for awhile.  
  
  
  
  
Two hours after they had arrived, the gundam pilots and Shin went back to the safehouse where they had been attacked by Oz.   
  
"I can believe that four days have passed here since we left." Quatre said in a strained voice. He didn't like the face that time between the two places was so diffrent. What if one of his companies had needed him while he was gone?  
  
"I know. It does seen strange." Trowa said as he glanced around the room. There was glass all over the floor under the windows and the door hung on only one hinge, gently swinging in the breeze and there were leaves scatered on the floor.  
  
"Well, I guess we need go after New Oz before they come after us again." Duo said coldly. He had resigned himself to his extra long life and had withdrawn from the others, even Shin. He blamed Shin a little bit for what was happening to him and he figured that if he kept his distance from the others, it wouldn't hurt as much.  
  
"I'll be back in a little while." he said and promptly disappered.  
  
"Where do you think he went?" Quatre said and the others just shook their heads. Turning to Shin he started to ask, "Can you...?"  
  
"No, I can't. We can't track others who can teleport." Shin said quietly.  
  
  
  
Duo appered right behind Sakura as she was cooking dinner in her house. "Why do you help them when they ruin people's lives?" he asked quietly.  
  
"Ahhhh!!!!!!" she screamed as she flung the contents of the pan into the air. It rained shrimp stirfry for a few seconds as she stood with her hands pressed against her chest, trying to calm her racing heart.  
  
"Why do you help them?" he repeated more forcefully.  
  
"Wh...what do you want with me?" she stammered as she started to edge away from the angry young man infront of her.  
  
"Answer my question!" he yelled and she paled.  
  
"Because I don't get much of a choice in the matter. General Masaki took care of a debt of mine and in return, I do things for him." she whispered as she continued trying to edge away, but suddenly, he barred her way with his arms, boxing her in against the wall next to the stove.  
  
"Everyone has a choice." he snarled as he leaned forward and put his face two inches from he face. "But not everyone decideds on the right one."  
  
"But...he said that if I didn't do it, I would regret it." she stammered as she cowered against the wall.  
  
"Well, do you agree with what they are going to do?"  
  
"No. But there is nothing that I can do about it."  
  
"What would you do if I told you thatthere was something that you could do?" he said softly with a small smirk on is face.  
  
Suddenly, she stood up straight and pushed him away from her. "What do I have to do?" she said with a smile spreading across her face. Chuckling, he moved back a few steps and sat down at her table. The chuckling soon grew to loud laughter which she hesitently joined in.  
  
"We have to arrange it so that they think that you're dead." Duo said after they had stopped laughing.  
  
"Ok, but what would leave no remains for them to find?" she asked as she cleaned up the spilled stirfry and started to make some hamburgers instead.  
  
"We could blow up your house." he suddgested but she shook her head. She liked her house just like it was, not some charred ruin.  
  
"How about we drive my car off a cliff into the ocean? They won't be able to get it for a while and they'll assume I'm dead." she said as she set a plate in front of him with some ketchup, tomatos and lettuce.  
  
"Doable. But if we put a body in the car before it goes over, when the drag the car up, it will be unreconizable and it will be assumed that it is you." he said as he made a hamburger. Seeing her go pale again, he said, "Don't worry about it. I'll take care of it."  
  
"Are you going to kill someone?" she whispered.  
  
"No." he snapped. They finished the meal in silence then they went their seperate ways; him to get a body, her to bring her car to a road that ran along a cliff that fell all the way to the ocean.  
  
He met her there a few minutes after she arrived, carrying a woman about her size wearing filthy rags. Seeing her questioning look, he said, "She was killed by a man who wanted her place to sleep under a bridge."  
  
Shuddering, she mummered, "Let's just get this over with." before hurrying over to her car.  
  
It was done quickly and they watched as the car rolloed off the cliff and crashed into the sea with a huge splash. "Well, I think it's time to introduce you to the others." he said with a grim smile. Grabbing her hand, he quickly teleported to the safehouse where Trowa and Quatre were just finishing cleaning up the mess left from New Oz.  
  
"Duo! Are you alright? Where were you?" Quatre exclaimed as he hurried towards his friend, but stopped when he caught sight of Sakura. "Why is she here?" he asked quietly.  
  
"She is going to help us with New Oz. She knows more about them then we do and she hates them as well." Duo said and Trowa nodded. Quatre still looked uncertain but instead told Duo that Shin, Heero and Wufie had gone out looking for him.  
  
Just as Duo was about to respond, the front doorm which had been fixed, opened to reveil Heero and Wufie, and a moment later, Shin appered in his customary puff of green smoke.  
  
"Where did you go?" Heero demanded as he closed the door.  
  
"I was begining the fight against New Oz. Sakura here is going to help us." Duo said as he gestured to the woman who was slowly backing away from Shin as he stared at her.  
  
"What do you mean that she is going to help us? Wufie demanded as he glared at the braided teenager.  
  
Duo quickly told them everything and in the end, Quatre went up to her and gave her a quick hug. "Welcom to the team, Sakura." he said with a quick smile. "I'm Quatre, and this is Trowa, Wufie, and Heero. You already know Duo and I believe that you've meet Shin before."  
  
"Yes. We have." she said softly as she threw a quick glace at the God of Death, who gave her a sinister smile, and she flinched and looked away hurriedly.  
  
Heero just glared at her before turning around and went upstairs. Everyone's eyes followed him up the stairs, so no one noticed the breaf flicker of pain that showed in Duo's eyes before it was covered in a cool mask once again. 


	7. Duo's Pain ch7

Duo's Pain  
Chapter 7  
  
  
  
"...so all we have to do now, if everything goes right, is to teleport in, set the bombs and teleport out again." Duo said as they sat around the living room table. They were discussing their plans to destroy New Oz and this was the only plan that they could come up with. Even the plan expert, Quatre couldn't come up with anything better.  
  
"I don't like this plan but ok." Wufie snapped as he leaned back from the table. They had been trying to think of a good plan for over three hours and this little thing was the best the could come up with.  
  
"So who is going in with Duo and Sakura?" Shin, who sat next to Sakura, asked as he played with his death scythe, trying to intimidate the only female present and succeeded, as she kept trying to edge further away from him.  
  
"I will." Heero said grimly and the others nodded. Duo knew the most about demolition and stealth, and Heero would protect him until he set everything and Sakura was going because she was the only one who knew the way around the New Oz base.  
  
"We leave in two hours." Duo said calmly.  
  
  
  
  
"Good luck and try not to get killed." Duo said as Trowa, Quatre, and Wufie prepared to create a distraction with some mobile suits that Duo had slapped together over the course of the year when he was avoiding the others. Shin was going to teleport to General Masaki and scare him a little bit.  
  
"Meet you back here when we're through." Trowa said as they left. The rest waited a couple minutes until they called to tell them that they were beginning, and then Duo and his two passengers took off.  
  
They appeared in a puff of smoke right in front of two guards as they were running to see what was happening to sound the alarm. Heero immediacy shot them both and Sakura led them to the control room where Duo began planting some bombs around the controls, with Heero hiding behind the door, which was cracked a little bit so he could see if anyone approached the room.  
  
"Hurry up Duo." Heero snapped as more guards ran past the door.  
  
"I'm hurrying. Keep your spandex on." Duo said as he finished setting the last one.  
  
"We need to set a few more around the base, like in the barracks and hanger where they keep the completed MS and then where they're making more. Duo said and Sakura nodded as she led them out and towards then destinations that Duo had mentioned.  
  
  
  
Twenty minutes after they had arrived, the bombs were all set and they were about teleport back to the safe house when suddenly Masaki appeared and shot Heero in the chest. As he hit the ground, Duo rushed at the man, growling in rage.  
  
"How dare you?!" he screamed as he tackled him to the ground and started to pound on him. Masaki didn't say anything. He just blocked Duo's punches and grinned a cruel grin that sent shivers through Sakura as she watched.  
  
Suddenly, Shin appeared behind the struggling pair. "Duo! He's not human!" he yelled as he rushed towards the pair.  
  
Duo's head jerked up as the shout distracted him, leaving an opening in his defense where Masaki promptly punched him in the face, knocking him out. As Duo slumped to the floor, Masaki stood up and looked at Shin.   
  
"Well, Shinigami, your little pet seems to be a wimp. I told you when you first merged that it would turn out bad, but did you listen? No, and now look where it has gotten you."  
  
"You were exiled to never go near an immortal." Shin said in a deadly voice. "You killed my brother and the council banished you for three thousand years. If you ever came within four miles of an immortal, you were sentenced with imprisonment within the abyss for the rest of eternity."  
  
"What are you going to do? Run back home to your uncle and tattle on me? If you do, you won't be here to protect your little friend." Masaki sneered as he glanced down at where he had left Duo on the floor. But Duo was no longer there. Both immortals looked around for a moment and saw that Heero and Sakura were also missing.  
  
"You son of a bitch! You were just a distraction for them to escape!" Masaki yelled as he charged towards Shin, but suddenly, Duo appeared in between them.  
  
Duo had woken up just moments after he had been knocked out and upon seeing that Shin and Masaki were ignoring them, carefully picked up Heero and grabbed Sakura. Teleporting to where Wufie, Trowa and Quatre were waiting for them, he handed over his passengers to his friends and then when back to deal with Masaki.  
  
Now, standing in between Shin and Masaki, Duo started to glow a deep purple with green swirls mixed in. His pupils disappeared and his hair loosened it's self until it waved gently around his body. Looking into Masaki's startled eyes, Duo said softly, "You hurt my friend. I don't like it when people hurt my friends. Now I'm afraid you must be destroyed."  
  
"Ha! I am an IMORTAL. I can't die." Masaki smirked at Duo, but Duo's peaceful expression never changed.  
  
Suddenly, Duo's clothes changed into huge billowy black robes and a scythe appeared in his hand. But this was not an ordinary scythe. No this one was made out of raw power that glowed a pure white withy flashes of gold. Then, suddenly, Duo changed. He grew taller and his hair changed from its deep brown color to pure white and a pair of black wings that resembled a bat's sprouted from his back.  
  
Masaki stared at him in shock as for the first time in all of his immortal life, he felt fear.  
  
Shin, also stared at Duo in shock, but not because he was afraid. He stared because in front of him, stood the person who the prophecy had told of thirty thousand years before.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
'And behold, the one both green and purple, with white hair will be the savior or the dessrtuction of all that has come before and all that will come after.'  
  
  
  
  
  
I'm reposting this prt because i had to add Duo's wings to his description. That one tiny thing is the only thing i changed. See ya!!!!!  
  
  
Shinigami-chan  



	8. The end!!

Duo's Pain  
Chapter 8  
  
  
  
  
  
'And behold, the one both green and purple, with white hair will be the savior or the destruction of all that has come before and all that will come after.'  
  
  
  
Duo started to glow a deep purple with green swirls mixed in. His pupils disappeared and his hair loosened it's self until it waved gently around his body. Looking into Masaki's startled eyes, Duo said softly, "You hurt my friend. I don't like it when people hurt my friends. Now I'm afraid you must be destroyed."  
  
"Ha! I am an IMORTAL. I can't die." Masaki smirked at Duo, but Duo's peaceful expression never changed.  
  
Suddenly, Duo's clothes changed into huge billowy black robes and a scythe appeared in his hand. But this was not an ordinary scythe. No this one was made out of raw power that glowed a pure white withy flashes of gold. Then, suddenly, Duo changed. He grew taller and his hair changed from its deep brown color to pure white and a pair of black wings that resembled a bat's sprouted from his back.  
  
Masaki stared at him in shock as for the first time in all of his immortal life he felt fear.  
  
Shin, also stared at Duo in shock, but not because he was afraid. He stared because in front of him, stood the person who the prophecy had told of thirty thousand years before.  
  
Immortals had been testing the auras of their children ever since the prophecy had been foretold and while some were close, none were ever exactly the one that was to come. Now a teenage human who normally would not have even be considered as a possibility, reveals that he is the one, the one that would either save or destroy the world.  
  
"Duo?" Shin said softly as he reached out to put a hand on the glowing shoulder. But his hand never reached it destination as suddenly it was caught and flung away by Duo's aura. The force behind the deflection was enough to send Shin into the wall, where he slumped stunned.   
  
Masaki was suddenly very sure that he didn't want to be himself right now. It was as if a hand had grabbed him and squeezed him until he could neither move nor breath. And then the boy turned his pupil less eyes to him and Masaki felt his heart freeze.  
  
"You shot my beloved." Duo said quietly as he glided forward until he was nose to nose with the terrified immortal general.  
  
Masaki could only nodded silently as Duo stared into his eyes.  
  
"Do you know what I do to people who hurt my friends or my beloved?" Duo asked quietly. Masaki just shook his head.  
  
"I make them pay."  
  
General Masaki almost wet his pants at the softly spoken words. He had a feeling that he was a fly a spider was playing with before it killed the fly.  
  
"What are you going to do, Duo?" Shin asked as he groggily pulled himself up the wall until he was standing.  
  
"I'm going to destroy General Masaki until the only thing that is left is random atoms. Then I'll see him in Hell!" Duo shouted as he grabbed Masaki with one hand and slammed him into the wall. The wall collapsed as he went through it.  
  
"Duo, you are so powerful at the moment that if you release any power, you could destroy the world." Shin said as calmly.  
  
"I don't care. This world sucks and it would be worth it to see him dead." Duo snarled as he yanked Masaki back into a standing position and waved the energy scythe towards Masaki's face.  
  
"But if you did that, Heero and all the others would die." Shin said, ever the voice of reason.  
  
Duo froze at hearing this, then slow let the general slid from his fingers and his scythe disappeared. Masaki was pleased that it seemed that he wouldn't be destroyed today and said cockily, "We'll, it seems that Shin still has you on such a short leash. You know, it was so good to shoot spandex boy that I wish I could do it again."  
  
Duo started growling in rage at the first sentence, but at the last one, his aura expanded abruptly, disintegrating Masaki before he could even realize the huge mistake he had just made with his last comment.  
  
Shin jumped back before the aura reached him and shouted, "Duo! You have to calm down! Think about Heero. If you destroy everything, how will he survive?"   
  
Hearing the words, Duo struggled to contain the power that was just trying to burst out of him. 'Got to calm down, Duo. Think about Heero. He's going top need help but if you kill him, he won't need it anymore. He'll need a grave.' He thought to himself as the energy burned him inside as it fought against his control. Finally, it was safely contained again and Duo slumped to the ground, exhausted by the inner struggle.   
  
Shin cautiously approached and put a hand on his young friend's shoulder. When he didn't immediately vaporize, he helped Duo to his feet and teleported him to where the others were waiting.  
  
  
  
Quatre had been startled when Duo had appeared with Sakura and a severely wounded Heero, but he had concealed it and immediately began to take care of the Wing Zero pilot. With both Trowa and Wufie helping him, they had slowed the bleeding and had concluded that the bullet had just clipped a lung and nothing else, but he would need to see a doctor fast.  
  
"Trowa we need to get him to a hospital fast. I don't know if we can wait for Duo to get back but I think that one of us should go and…" Quatre didn't get a chance to finish what he was going to say, because just then Duo and Shin appeared.   
  
This was a Duo that they hardly recognized. This Duo had long loose white hair and no pupils in his violet eyes, not to mention he was half a foot taller and was wearing long billowy black robes. Not only that, but the happy-go-lucky but more recently cold person was gone, replace with a tall, refined looking, exhausted man.  
  
"Duo? What happened to you?" Quatre asked, but it was ignored as Duo stumbled over to where Heero was laying.  
  
"Is he going to be all right?" Duo demanded as he gently placed a hand over the wound.  
  
"He will be when we get him to a hospital. The bullet clipped a lung, we think and we haven't been able to completely stop all of the bleeding and he needs to see a doctor." Quatre said as he put a hand out towards Duo, like he was going to place it on the teenager's shoulder but decided not to at the last moment.  
  
"Duo. You can heal him, I believe." Shin said firmly from behind the group.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"You are the one the immortals have been waiting for. Your coming was foretold in a prophecy. 'And behold, the one both green and purple, with white hair will be the savior or the destruction of all that has come before and all that will come after.' " he quoted to the shock of all present. "I believe that you will be able to do almost anything with your power. You will need some training so that you won't accidentally destroy the world, but you should be able to heal him."  
  
"What do I do?" Duo said firmly and Shin approached and knelt next to the two.  
  
"Place you hand over the wound and will it to heal. Then pour a tiny bit of your powers or energy, or what ever you want to call it, into him." Shin said and Duo quickly complied.  
  
Everyone watched spell bound, as a purple light seemed to pour from Duo's hand and into Heero's body. The blood disappeared back into the body and the wound closed, not even leaving a scar behind. But as Duo took his hand away, they could see a small pink spot in the shape of a crescent moon where Duo's thumb had been.  
  
"Why did the mark appear?" Duo asked as Heero opened his eyes and looked at the faintly glowing figure of his lover.  
  
"When you do something to someone, a mark of your power remains with them." Shin said quietly, then wandered away to give the two a moment to talk between themselves.  
  
Duo watched Shin leave to talk with the others, then turned back to find that Heero was watching him with an unreadable expression on his face. Gathering up his courage in the face of the coldness coming from Heero, he said, "How are you feeling Heero?"  
  
Instead of answering the question, even with his usual hn, Heero instead said coldly, "Who are you?"  
  
"What do you mean? It's me, Duo!"   
  
"No, my Duo is not a freak like you are." Heero snarled as he pushed himself up and glared down at the stunned Duo.  
  
"What?! I'm not a freak and I am Duo!" Duo shouted as he jumped to his feet. His shout attracted the attention of the others, who had moved away to give them some privacy.  
  
Heero just snorted and stalked away from Duo, leaving a wound deep in the white haired teenager's heart. Gathering his energy, Duo transported himself away, leaving only a trace of smoke and a few tears behind to mark that anything had ever been there.  
  
"What the hell did you say to Duo?" Shin snarled as Heero got close to them.  
  
"That was not Duo. That was a freak of nature." Heero said as he passed him.  
  
"If you believe that, than you are a bigger fool that I thought." With that, Shin transformed into his true form and disappeared after his young friend.  
  
  
  
Duo appeared in his room at the safe house and immediately collapsed on the bed in tears. 'How could he think that? I may look different but I'm still the same guy he's known for so long now!' he thought as he angrily swiped at the tears coursing down his face.  
  
Suddenly, Shin appeared next to the bed. "Duo, how are you feeling?" he asked softly.  
  
"Like my heart has been ripped out and trampled by a fleet of mobile suits." Duo said in a soft voice.  
  
"Would you like to come live in the other dimension with the other immortals?" Shin asked as he sat down next to Duo. Duo, who finally noticed that Shin was in his real form, nodded as he sat up and grabbed the shinigami's hand.  
  
Within a heartbeat, they were both gone, leaving only a few wisps of purple and green smoke behind.  
  
  
  
They appeared in Tobias's rooms as the older immortal was just sitting down for tea. "Nephew, I thought I told you not to just appear in my quarters like that, and who is your friend?" he said as he placed his teacup down on the table next to him.  
  
"This is Duo, Uncle. He was the one that the prophecy told about." Shin said as he sat down across from Tobias and motioned for Duo to sit next to him.  
  
"Duo? Yes, I can see it. I assume that you want me to help train him to control his new powers?" At their nods, he sighed and began the long process of teaching the newest immortal.  
  
  
  
13 years later  
  
  
At thirty years old, Heero wasn't a man to mess with. He became a professional fighter and was a multi-millionaire from all of his matches, because he hardly touched the money he took in.He was very good, he hardly ever killed one of his opponentsanymore.   
  
He had kept in contact with Quatre, Trowa and Wufie ever since that fateful night when he had chased away the only person he had ever truly loved.  
  
After both Duo and Shin had disappeared, Quatre had explained everything that had happened the Deathscythe Hell pilot to him. Deep inside he had known that the white hair man above him when he woke up was Duo, but he hadn't let himself believe it until Quatre had slapped him and told him point blankly that he was an ass and he would probably never see Duo again because of his stupidity.   
  
In memory of his love and his mistake, he had grown his hair out to just past his shoulders and had adopted the professional fighting name of The God of Death.  
  
Trowa and Quatre had gotten married when both were twenty years old. It was a huge wedding, but the only people there were their families and only a few of their friends. Then a year later, Wufie had surprised them all when he had married Sally Po at a quiet wedding on the L1 colony.   
  
Heero was the only person not married, though he had adopted a small boy that reminded him of Duo named Akira.  
  
Now, as he walked home after a huge fight that he had won, a friend of the man Heero had just beaten, came up behind him and put a bullet through his heart. He died a moment later as a shinigami arrived and released him. As his soul was leaving the blond haired shinigami said in a soft voice, "Duo still misses you. He won't admit it, but I can tell."  
  
Heero left with the knowledge that at least he wasn't the only one who had felt like there was hole where his heart used to be. He contemplated this as he arrived in heaven and was ushered in front of Kami-sama.  
  
"HEERO YUE, YOU HAVE KILLED MANY PEOPLE IN YOUR LIFE AND HURT MANY MORE. BUT DISPITE ALL OF THAT, YOU HAVE SAVED MORE LIVES THAN YOU HAVE DESTROYED. THERE FOR, I WILL ALOW YOU ONE WISH ABOUT WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO YOU NOW." Kami-sama said as Heero looked at him in shock.  
  
"I just wish that I could be with Duo forever." Heero said softly after a minute of silence.  
  
"GRANTED."  
  
Heero was aware of a huge flash of light and then there was nothing at all.  
  
  
  
Duo was content.   
  
He had finally mastered his new powers after only a few months in the other dimension, and had settled into a position of power in the ranks of the immortals. He was now training young immortals to be the best in their fields and loved every minute, he loved being able tell high and mightly immortals what to do without worrying about what would happen to him.  
  
Shin was now called Tenchi and was in charge of the Guards that protected Duo from anything that might happen to him and he took care of all the immortals complaints about him wiyjout having to step on any toes like Duo delighted in doing.   
  
They had formed the guard about two human years after Duo had begun his studies. A jealous immortal had attacked him because the immortal had wanted the powers that Duo controlled. Tenchi, still known as Shin at the time, had seen the immortal sneaking up on Duo and had captured him before he could do anything worse than trying to put a curse on the white haired young man, which Duo had easily blocked.  
  
Now, as he left the building that he taught his class in, Duo felt a disturbance in the magic around the area. A blue light appeared in front of him and slowly formed into a person with huge white and blue wings. The person was dressed in white flowing robes and had hair that reached just past his shoulders. The light gradually disappeared to reveal a grown up Heero as the newly arrived immortal.  
  
Heero collapsed as soon as the light disappeared and Duo hurriedly caught him before he hit the ground. Teleporting to his rooms, Duo layed him on the bed and pulled up a chair from the table to sit on as he watched the still figure.  
  
After a few minutes, Heero began to stir, and Duo leaned over him. He had braided his white hair like he used to so the first thing Heero saw as he woke up was deep violet eyes and felt the thick rope as it fell on his chest.  
  
"Duo, I've missed you so much." Heero said as he gently touched Duo's cheek. "I'm so sorry for being an ass to you so long ago."  
  
"It's ok, but what are you doing here?" Duo asked as Heero sat up.  
  
"I got killed, but Kami-sama gave me a wish. I wished that I could be with you forever." Heero said as he pulled the stunned Duo into a tight embrace.  
  
"Please tell me that you're not just a dream." Duo whispered as he buried his head in Heero's chest.  
  
"It's not a dream and I'm never going to leave you ever again." Heero said and Duo just nodded happily.  
  
  
  
In heaven, Kami-sama smiled at the scene he was watching between the two immortals. "I WISH YOU BOTH GOOD LUCK IN YOUR LOVE FOR THE REST OF YOUR IMMORTAL LIVES." He said and gently blessed them.  
  
  
The End  
  
  
I don't believe I finally finished this story. I know the end kind of sucks but I have this huge writer's block and just wanted it through. If anyone gets any ideas for any of my other stories, don't hesititate to send them in a review. Thank you to the one person who sent me an idea, it helped me with the ending a bit.  
  
Ja ne  
  
Shinigami-chan  



End file.
